Lost Sons
by Luke Danger
Summary: When Shanxi was freed, Earth knew aliens were out there. What they did not expect was to find other humans already in the stars in a holy empire, and part of the Citadel. Twenty six years since First Contact, the Council prepares for two new human Spectres. And on the Normandy SR-1, Ashley Williams and her imperial counterpart, Shepard, begin the first round of evaluations.
1. Prologue

The lecture hall of the University of Serrice was buzzing with activity as various students talked among themselves. While Galactic History was not a subject that many would expect to get a degree in, it was still a course many took for various reasons during their studies on Thessia. Needing the extra credit, thinking it was a (relatively) easy class, getting it assigned as part of their first semester, or even just simply wanting to know. The class fell silent as the professor, an aged asari matriarch, entered the hall and took her place in front of the assembled students.

"Good morning everyone," She said, receiving few responses. "Last week, we finished with the Turian Hierarchy and their ascendance to the Citadel Council. Today, we will start our studies on the latest intergalactic nation, the Holy Star Empire of Jerusalem. Who can tell me what makes Empire special compared to other nations?" She asked, looking around. "Liara, perhaps you can tell me?" She said and pointed towards a young asari in the front seat.

"Huh? Oh, me?" The young asari maiden's cheeks flushed a brighter shade of blue briefly. "Um, the Empire's people are one of two known species and the only Citadel member not to hold their homeworld."

"That is correct," the professor nodded as she adjusted the hologram to show the political state of the galaxy at that time. "In 1692 GS, a batarian slaver group hatched a highly dangerous plan, even more illegal and dangerous than anything before. They traveled, using normal FTL methods, into parts unknown and began to open Mass Relays, their goal being the opening of a backdoor into Citadel space, thus bypassing all the patrols and attacking lightly defended core worlds with high population densities."

"What could go wrong?" a turian jeered briefly, getting a snicker from the crowd of students at her remark.

Ignoring the remark, the professor continued on. "However, a faulty navigation computer lead their fleet to a homeworld of a pre-industrial species, called humans. In direct violation of Citadel Conventions, they had not only had they opened unknown Relays, but also proceeded to abduct thousands of these people."

"However, during their return to Terminus Systems, their captives managed to escape and overpowered their captors. Several ships carrying the captives crashed on the salarian colony of Dinalin. The Council initially planned return the captives to their homeworld, but in the end it did not. Who can tell me why?" hands rose and she looked to one of the students in the back. "You in the backseat?"

"The ship's navigational data was lost and since the relays were located in unknown space, they were never found. So Council just gave them a planet to call their own," a salarian answered.

"Good. However, it was not that the Council simply gave them a planet, but merely acknowledged their ownership. The planet, which we now call Nod, had colonization rights which were bought by several rich philanthropists who then offered the planet as a new home for the displaced humans. The Council merely accepted this offer of goodwill."

"Of course they did, they are the asari's children," someone scoffed. The professor was quite sure it was one of the turian students, their vocals were quite distinct.

"Yes, that is a common belief. It is quite true that the asari played a large role in developing the humans, teaching and uplifting them. However, it should be remembered that human society developed in quite different direction from those of the Asari Republics, contrasting our e-democracy with their absolute monarchy. For a while, humans fought among themselves, blaming each other for summoning demons and angering their god. What changed? You there."

"Some dude talked some sense into them," an asari to the left side of the room offered.

"And who was this 'dude'?" the professor pressed.

"Peter... the Third?"

"Peter the Second, actually. He preached that humans were to put aside their squabbles over details, as all three human religions centered around the same god, but had theological differences on this god's will. Can anyone name these three major religions before the formation of the Faith of Abraham?" the teacher looked around and saw no hands, with several students looking shamed and others frustrated.

"I see several of you skipped that part of our textbooks," she said with a smirk. "Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Those three were human religions until Peter the Second. While initially he was not listened to, thanks to attempts by the Council, several human leaders chose to convert to this religion in order to end the infighting, though there was also real religious zeal among them. So, what eventually made the religion so central to their culture?"

"They see their god everywhere," someone shouted.

"It's a tradition?" someone else offered.

"The cultural backlash reaction as a result of alien interference," a turian - the same one who had asked what could go wrong - offered.

"Very good, cultural backlash is the correct answer. As external cultures began seep into human daily life, there was indeed a growing concern of cultural extinction and loss of themselves among humans. Indeed, this was realized even in the Citadel, where some protested against offering aid to the humans on the grounds that it stunted their natural cultural evolution and for fear of having another krogan case in their hands."

"Except humans don't require anti-tank munitions to take down," someone whispered just a little too loudly, earning a swift glare from the professor before she continued.

"However, in the end, humanity rallied behind the banner of the Faith of Abraham and made it their central cultural tenant. Following appearance of Saint Adil, who claimed that God wanted humanity to unite under a single banner, the Empire of Jerusalem was formally founded. Who was their first Emperor?"

"Baldwin the First?" an asari offered, before her companion next to her shook her head.

"No, that was the third Emperor. First one was... Hassan the First?"

"Yes, Hassan the First is the correct answer," the teacher said before a loud buzzing noise rang out, signaling end of the period. "We are out of time today and we have skimmed over the early history of the Empire. Next time, we will study how Empire earned the Star part of their name and next week, we will discuss Batarian Crusade and its implications on the galaxy at large. For next time, I want two page report of position of the Emperor and how his dual nature as a messenger from God and ruler of mankind. Class dismissed."

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**Citadel Council Chambers**

**2657 GS**

"Councilors, you requested my presence?" ambassador Abd-Al-Azis said as he bowed to the three Councilors in front of him. Around them, numerous attendants were looking over the proceeding.

"Yes. There has been some... disturbing news from one of our border patrols, Ambassador. We had thought that Empire knew the consequences of breaking the law," Tevos said, looking down at the human coldly. To his credit his face did not reveal anything.

"Ambassador, the Empire is aware that opening of new Relays without having scouted it's counterpart is illegal, correct?" Councilor Bruha asked.

"Yes, quite so. The danger such recklessness poses is too great. Everyone knows this. Why do you ask?" Azis asked, confusion finally showing on his face.

"We recently located a colony of yours, well outside the territories given to the Empire. Worst of all, they tried to open a relay without permission," Tevos said, bringing up the holographic image of the colony. Azis looked over it. Around them, the observers spoke among themselves, shocked by the reveal.

"Relay 314's counterpart is not known, as such, it should-" Sparatus began, before Azis cut him off.

"Relay 314? Isn't that in the southern part of the Attican Traverse?" the ambassador asked, raising his head.

"Yes, so?"

"We have no presence there," Azis said, reaching for his omni-tool and checking the records of the Imperial Administration. "You can see for yourself," the Councilors turned their eyes to their consoles, looking over the data sent to them.

"Interesting... Please continue," Bruha commented before tapping something into her console. Azis suspected Bruha was requesting confirmation from STG. A few minutes later, Bruha turned to her fellow Councilors and nodded.

"A rogue colony then?" Tevos asked.

"Perhaps, but as far as we know no sect has declared that they would be doing anything like this," Azis answered. "Nor have any of the Orders or Noble Houses declared colonization projects. It may be secret, but opening a relay... no one is that stupid. We are still newcomers in galactic terms, but we have been well educated about the dangers of unknown."

"Too true," Tevos said when Sparatus's omnitool chirped. He turned his attention to the display, reading whatever message had arrived, before turning to other Councilors.

"The occupation fleet just sent a message," Sparatus said. "They had problems with the translation software, apparently the dialect was not something in the program. They finished updating the software and found sound something... interesting."

"Spit it out already, Sparatus. You have never been one for theatrics," Tevos demanded from the newly appointed turian representative, surprising those present with her sudden aggressiveness.

"They have no knowledge of the Star Empire or Citadel and claim to be from something called the Systems Alliance. Which hails from Earth."

"Earth?" Azis asked asked, barely believing his ears. "Do you mean...?"

"Yes. Your homeworld," Sparatus answered.

Silence deep enough to hear a fly buzz fell upon the Council chamber. Eventually, Azis made a sign of the cross and crescent upon his chest before whispering in a tiny voice, which could be heard among silent chamber.

"By God... we found it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**One Week Later**

_**SSV Horns of Hattin**_**, Shanxi Orbit**

**2157 CE (2657 GS)**

Second Lieutenant Steven Hackett sat in his chair, waiting for the representative of this new alien species to arrive. While the Second Fleet had been preparing a counterattack to liberate Shanxi from the invading aliens, a message had arrived saying that aliens had pulled out and left a message that they wanted to talk. The Second Fleet had entered the system after scout ships had confirmed that it was all clear.

A few days later, a new ship had entered the system, different from the earlier vessels. It had hailed the fleet from a significant distance and said it wanted to talk. They even provided what they said was an "updated" translation software, which uploaded itself into the translators the aliens had left behind once the Alliance's engineers made sure it was all clear.

Then again, it was not his job to decide these matters. He had been chosen to serve as the representative, because he was in that nightmarish position where he could speak for humanity, but was also expendable if this went sour. He really hoped nothing would go wrong, he did not want his last memory of his wife being two of them arguing about his career.

The door opened and what looked like a blue woman stepped inside, flanked by two others. Hackett stood up, signaling his guards to be ready in case this went wrong. The aliens, all of them, looked exactly like attractive human women, except blue and having weird tentacle like crest instead of hair. He had to stop himself from commenting on how it looked like an old school sci-fi film that used rubber foreheads for the aliens.

"Guess that space does have blue skinned alien babes," one of the guards muttered. Hackett let the man's comment pass, it was somewhat unexpected.

"It is an interesting biological and evolutionary question that is still being worked on," the alien said, making Hackett glare at the guard.

"I apologize for my men, I hope we have not insulted you," Hackett apologized, raising his hand defensively.

"No harm done, it's an understandable reaction. My name is Amathema and I am here on behalf of the Citadel Council. We wish to apologize for the events and explain some things, before an official delegation arrives," the alien said. Hackett noticed that her lips movement did not sync with the words he heard. Hackett assumed it was due to the translation software.

"Very well. I am Second Lieutenant Hackett and I was ordered to meet you. Do sit, it is considered rude by us to keep the other standing," Hackett offered, gesturing to a chair next to Amathema.

"Thank you," she (Hackett was quite sure it was a she) said, sitting down. Hackett sat down himself, before Amathema continued. "I hope you understand that this is not yet an official meeting, I am not authorized to actually agree on anything or offer anything, merely to lay a groundwork to set up official talks."

"I understand. I am very much in the same position myself," Hackett paused for a moment to think. "I assume official diplomats will be conducting talks later?"

"Yes, we are hoping that after this meeting you could send your own diplomat who could speak for you."

"I'll talk to my superiors, but I can't make promises."

"That is acceptable. Now, I should explain the situation somewhat. But first, I must ask you what does the name Jerusalem mean to your people?"

"Jerusalem?" Hackett asked, raising his eyebrow. What did the aliens want to know about that for? And why did they have the word for the city in their language? Or was it one of those exceptions due to being a name?

"Yes."

"What about it?"

"We wish to confirm whether or not certain information has survived on Earth, or if details have been lost to time," Amathema said, "If the details have been lost, then we will explain them to you."

"I see. Well, Jerusalem is a city back on our homeworld. Some say it's a holy city, others say it's a source of headaches for politicians. It was destroyed in an meteor strike long time ago, easily a thousand years, before being rebuilt."

"Yes. We expected that. Well, you see, about... let me see…" a device around her wrist glowed and the soldiers were immediately on guard and hands were on their pistols, their alien counterparts responding likewise to this action.

"Peace," the ambassador said, "I am simply confirming dates."

"Stand down, men," Hackett said, making a mental note to commend their quick uptake to a potential threat.

The alien nodded as her device finished. "That estimate matches up with our end. A thousand years ago, a group of slavers broke several Citadel laws and ended up in your world. An event called Third Crusade was happening at the time," Hackett blinked at the fact that they knew of Earth's history and of specific events. "These slavers, using their significantly more advanced technology captured over 30,000 people in and around of city called Jerusalem, before destroying it."

"Wait wait wait, back up a bit," Hackett said as he understood what she was saying. "You are saying that Old Jerusalem was destroyed by _aliens_?"

"Yes," the alien ambassador said, wincing faintly.

It took a minute for Hackett to finally process the revelation. "Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, those loons were right," Hackett muttered to himself, before turning back to Amathema. "How many other aliens have visited our world?" Hackett asked a little too harshly, though he did leave out the Prothean data cache in Mars.

"None, as far as we know," Amathema said. "As the slavers were returning, either through skill or luck, the enslaved managed to free themselves and overpowered their captors. Luckily for them, the ships were passing through a system colonized by the salarians - another Council species - and the ship crashed onto it. We were informed of this and sought to help the confused and scared escapees."

"I see. Um, thank you, I guess," Hackett said awkwardly. How the hell were you supposed to respond to finding out about that? "What happened to them?"

"We helped them. Tried to find their homeworld so we could return them. As you might guess, we didn't succeed. Space is pretty big place after all," Amathema said with a smirk. "As such, we offered them a world to live on. It has been a long time since, but these days they travel the stars with us, under the banner of Holy Star Empire of Jerusalem. Pretty nice people, as long as you do not try to practice slavery."

"Holy Star Empire of Jerusalem?" Hackett asked incredulously and was fairly sure he could hear one of his guards blanching in shock. "Huh, haven't heard term 'Holy' in a nations name since medieval times. Most people don't want like idea of mixing religion and politics these days."

"You are not religious yourself?" Amathema said, surprise evident on her face.

"You're asking about me or our species?" Hackett asked, confused as a nudging sense of worry creeped up his spine.

"Both, really," Amathema said.

"Well, I guess you could say there is spirituality, but most people just pay a lipservice out of social traditions rather than from any real sense of belonging," Hackett explained. "A lot of humans have, well, outgrown such silly superstitions," _what the hell are you doing quoting archaic sci-fi you moron…_ he angrily berated himself before adding. "Er. Well, it's sort of fallen out of favor, it's just not as popular as it used to be."

"Oh dear, this might complicate things... still, it can't be said that nobody saw this coming," Amathema muttered to herself, though clearly distressed.

"I hope our beliefs are not something to worry about," Hackett said, there was no knowing what sort people these aliens were.

"No, we have no issues with you. It's the _Empire_ that I am worried about. You see, the citizens of the Star Empire are quite religious. Their Emperor is both ruler of the nation as well as head of their religion," Amathema explained, pausing often as she was clearly trying to put it diplomatically.

"Oh... I hope they have not been causing troubles for you. Back on home, we had... how to put this nicely..." Hackett said as he rubbed the back of his neck trying to think of a good way to put it. "We had bad runs with religion our own history, with people mixing religion and politics. Bad experiences. So..." Hackett concluded. If this group of humans were just as bad as certain groups back home, this could be bad.

"Depends on your definition of troubles. They obey galactic laws and run charity, but there is bad blood between them and batarians."

"Oh," Hackett said, his body relaxing as the worst case scenarios were unfounded. "Well, that is good to hear. Though I can't say for sure, since I do not know these, uh, batarians, myself."

"I can pretty safely say nobody, or at least anyone I know, has issue with them beyond some minor complaints."

"I hope you do not mind me saying this, but this all sounds like some fanfiction to a science fiction story. Aliens kidnapping humans, those humans building an empire... It's quite a lot to take in."

"I understand. It is quite improbable chain of events, but in the end, this is the situation among the stars at the moment."

"So how does this all tie back to these...?" Hackett said gesturing towards space and Shanxi uncertainly as he decided to leave the matter of other humans to his superiors.

"Turians." Amathema supplied.

"These turians attacking us?"

"Well, you see, there is a law against opening unactivated Mass Relays without knowing where they lead," Amathema elaborated. "Punishment for breaking such laws are quite severe. Opening a relay once almost lead to destruction of galactic community."

"Well, we were unaware of such law so I don't see how that excuses these turians for coming in guns blazing," Hackett retorted.

"Normally, you would be right. However, the Star Empire knows this law. The turians, seeing that humans were opening a relay, assumed you were part of the Star Empire. We only recently realized that you are not part of the Star Empire, after they notified us that they do not have forces around here."

_Sloppy,_ Hackett thought. Not even checking to make sure you were going after the right guys? He chalked it down to an overeager commander.

"After the translation softwares were upgraded with your language, not an easy task to achieve in a week, the turians were ordered to pull out and I was dispatched to set up talks. Thankfully, your language and one spoken by the Empire share the same cornerstones, which helped in figuring the translation. We hope that this incident has not completely soured your views on alien life," Amathema concluded.

"I see," Hackett said. "So what happens now?"

"Well, we are hoping to put an end to this conflict before it goes anywhere and help you to join the galactic community. Official representatives of Citadel Council and The Empire are heading here to formally meet you."

"You didn't mention what this Citadel Council is, by the way," Hackett added.

"Oh, whoops. I'm sorry, its easy to forget that you are newcomers."

"Not many?"

"Very few."

"So what is the Citadel?'

"The Citadel is, simply put, the controlling government of half of the galaxy," Amathema said with a smile.

Hackett's mouth, much to his shame, dropped open.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**SSV**__**Makaluka,**_** Shanxi Orbit**

A few days had passed since the asari had contacted the Alliance and called for peace. With knowledge that high level representatives were to arrive, Hackett had quickly called his superiors, who had called for their superiors and so forth, until a diplomat had been sent to Shanxi, alongside reinforcements.

Amathema had warned that each representative would be arriving with their own ship and told not to worry about them. It was still worrisome to see four ships, some larger than largest Alliance ship currently in service, enter the system. The only upside was that they had kept their distance and sent hails to request permission to come closer first after coming out of the Mass Relay instead of just setting course.

The turian ship had a bird of prey look to it, with "wings" on its side. The asari vessel was a sleek, curvy blue ship with four "fins" poking from it. The salarian one was hard to pin down, it seemed like it was a series of tubes put together, not really being sleek like asari, but not quite there with the turians. What, however, interested Hackett the most was the fourth ship, which belonged to the Star Empire. It looked like a flying brick. A flying brick with stubby wings. It also screamed that it could take any Alliance ship and break it in half. The Alliance would need to speed up _Kilimanjaro_ construction; the current _Annapurna_-class was too small compared to these to be able to fight them head on.

The meeting had been delayed even with the arrival of the alien diplomats, since it took some time for the Alliance diplomat to arrive. The aliens (and other humans) had been understanding to the situation, fortunately. In the meantime, the Empire had already requested if it was possible to set up routes for pilgrimages who would want to visit Old Jerusalem and other Holy Lands on Earth. Admiral Drescher had responded that it was not for him to decide and asked them to wait politely.

However, with the arrival of the diplomat from Earth, the meeting was scheduled to begin very soon. Hackett had been told to participate, since he had been first one to talk with these aliens. He wasn't really sure what he could do, really, besides maybe chime in or talk to Ambassador Amathema to break the ice.

The meeting was held on board the _SSV Makaluka_, flagship of the Second Fleet. As the door opened to let in five people. Amathema and four representatives entered, including another asari, a walking bird thing that was apparently a turian, a thin alien that somehow reminded Hackett of frogs, and a human. He concluded the frog-like alien was a salarian. Amathema saw Hackett and gave a smile to him, which he wasn't sure if he should respond, merely gesturing to the Alliance ambassador, Ambassador Mendoza. The ambassador gave a wave of his hand before speaking.

"Welcome aboard the _Makaluka_. We apologize for delay with these talks, but it takes time to travel even with the Mass Relays," Mendoza said.

"We understand," the new asari said. "It is a common issue. Amathema, if you would introduce us?"

"Yes. Representing Citadel Council are Ambassador Iliam of Asari Republics, Ambassador Aurelius of Turian Hierarchy and Dalatrass Vilk of Salarian Union. Representing Holy Star Empire of Jerusalem is Duke Walter of House Drake."

"It is good to finally meet our brothers from Earth," the human ambassador said with a warm smile. Hackett was still processing that the man looked like he had stepped out of _Lord of the Rings_ with sci-fi bolted on.

"Yes, quite so. I am Ambassador Mendoza, representing System Alliance. With me are Admiral Drescher and Second Lieutenant Hackett," Mendoza said, gesturing to Drescher and Hackett respectively with the two nodding in response as they were introduced. "Now, if you don't mind me saying so, we would like to know what Council wants with us. This attack was not the best impression we could get," which was putting it mildly, as Hackett knew there were war hawks who wanted alien blood.

"Yes, we understand this. It is an unfortunate misunderstanding from our part," ambassador Iliam began. "As Amathema explained, the turians assumed you were part of The Empire and proceeded with a police action," Iliam explained.

"Invading a world hardly sounds a police action, if you do not mind me saying so," Mendoza said. "Over hundred people are dead on our side, not counting the damage from your orbital strikes on urban regions."

"Perhaps," the turian representative admitted. "But at the galactic level, you need something stronger. Fear of retribution for breaking the galactic laws works better than what is essentially a slap on a wrist," he paused a moment before elaborating further. "If this were an imperial world, it would be made into a protectorate. However, since it is not and this merely a misunderstanding, Turian Hierarchy will not be taking any more offensive actions. We pulled out as soon as we realized the situation, and you have our sincerest apologies for this tragedy."

"There will be reparations, of course. We do not expect you to just forget this event with just an apology," Iliam said, earning a glare from Aurelius, but the turian remained silent.

"That is good to hear," Mendoza said, nodding.

"If you do not mind me cutting in here," the human duke spoke, "I wish to say how great a moment this is to our people. We have always dreamed of a day when we could be united with our brothers from Earth. Tell me, how is Earth these days?"

"Little bit overcrowded but access to FTL-travel has been helping on that," Mendoza said.

"Ah, I see," The duke commented, "I shall speak with our Emperor, perhaps we can show some areas we have claimed but not yet developed."

"Now, we wish to talk about System Alliance joining us in the galactic community," Iliam spoke up, cutting off the Duke before he could go on further. "The Citadel Alliance is currently the largest governing body of the galaxy. From the first contact package you gave to us, it would be analogues to your United Nations, or even System Alliance and its member states."

"Were Earth to join the Empire, humanity would finally be united and fully represented in the Citadel Alliance," The duke added.

"Yes... I gather you have expected our two nations to merge?" Mendoza asked, raising an eyebrow at the aliens.

"Not truly, after all it has been a long time and you cannot change overnight. We were hoping two of you could find some common ground and work together with the representation," Iliam explained, "Of course, we do not expect you to join Citadel right away without consideration."

"Thank you for that. But, should we join, why not have our two nations represented separately?" Mendoza asked. "I mean, surely it would be absurd to have newcomers put under another power simply because both are human."

"Nonsense, all of God's children should be together!" the duke spoke with just a hint of… was it distress that Hackett heard?

"Why is the independence of our two nations an issue?" Mendoza asked in confusion, "Surely two us can exist side by side. I mean, I'm certain that there's splits in your governments," even as he spoke, however, Hackett had a sinking feeling that the galactic setup was not based on multinational lines.

"Apart from God's will that of all mankind being united under Him..." the duke said, nodding at alien ambassador. Iliam was rubbing her forehead in annoyance before speaking again.

"At the moment Citadel Species are represented as one group. One representative," Iliam said. "There has never been two representatives in any one species."

"I fail to see how this would be problematic," Mendoza said in confusion.

"If humans get two representatives, why not everyone else?" Aurelius cut in. "How would these be divided? There is only one turian representative, representing the one turian state - the Turian Hierarchy. But the asari have dozens if not hundreds of small republics, should they all get a representative, thus being able to outvote everyone else?" he explained before raising one talon. "One species. One representative. That's the rule."

"I see," Mendoza said, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands together. "And the Empire already represents humanity?"

"For the last four hundred years," the duke said. "A thousand years if you count since our ancestors were abducted."

"And we can't join Citadel Alliance unless we become part of the Empire?" Mendoza asked, raising an eyebrow. "We would like to work with the galactic community, but if the rules are such then..."

"The Empire has it's own wishes, but for the moment Council is not forcing anything on you," Iliam cut in before he could finish the statement. "As a first step, you would be granted an observer status. There would be a time for you to observe the benefits you could gain from joining. Observer status would not bind you to joining the Citadel, but it would let you observe the proceedings. If you were to decide to fully commit to joining the Citadel, then we would need to speak about how to arrange the representation between yourselves and the Empire."

"The Empire would have no problems letting Earth onto galactic stage. We are confident that any issue can be solved peacefully and swiftly," The duke said, making Iliam roll her eyes.

"I will talk with our leaders and let you know," Mendoza said. "But that is the most that I can promise at this stage."

"Understandable," Vilk said at last. "Only a fool jumps in with only half the information. However, a basic groundwork for integration and diplomatic channels should be established swiftly as so to prevent further incidents as have already occurred."

"I understand. I will ask my superiors to put a check on expansion while this occurs, though in the meantime I would ask for kid's gloves in dealing with any incidents as there will be lag time for news to spread around."

"We can grant a short stay on this," Illiam said, "though we will ask that you enforce our biggest laws - no opening relays without knowing the other side, for one - in the meantime."

Mendoza paused for a moment before nodding. "I'll ask that we put a halt to that and I'll explain why. Again, there may be a delay for news to get out."

"We understand. Thank you, Ambassador. If there is nothing to discuss immediately…"

"What about…" the duke began before getting a glare from Vilk and nodding. "Very well. Another time then, fellow children of God."

Hackett rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as the meeting ended and the representatives left. Once they were all gone, Mendozza leaned back in his chair and the room was silent until finally he slammed his fists against the table.

"A real fucking mess. Alliance will never surrender to some theological dictatorship," he said, earning a raised eyebrow from the admiral. "I read the first contact package while I was heading here. A theocratic absolute monarchy. From the way the Emperor is described, they would want to place us beneath the Emperor. Sharing representation with them would just put us in conflict with them. Yet, we can't let these people be representatives of mankind in the galaxy. They are not even from Earth anymore!"

"I am worried about their military, though," Admiral Drescher admitted worriedly. "You saw that dreadnought. It was bigger than anything we got. Only _Kilimanjaro _is about the same size and that isn't out of the dock yet, to say nothing of the internal specs. If these guys decide to force the issue, I am worried we might not have the military strength to repel them. And that's not counting the Council..."

"The Council seemed to be okay and I don't think violent expansion is in their agenda, but what about the Empire? I need to speak about increasing our defense budget. We need to get out there and start building allies, to make sure we are seen as the legitimate human government. Or failing that, as the real representation of what humanity is and that the Empire is just part of our history yanked out of its context and then put into a self-enforced stasis." Mendoza said angrily before sighing. "I am going to recommend we take this offer, for now. We can't shut off from them. We know they are there and they know we are here. This... Empire has a head-start in galactic politics. We need to catch up with them."

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Hackett asked. Drescher nodded. "How are we going to break this to people back home? 'Very Carefully' is _not_ going to cut it."

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**Three Weeks Later**

**Imperial Palace, Nod**

"This... this is an INSULT!" Emperor Titus shouted, throwing the datapad on the table before leaning back on his chair. "Not only do they not recognize my authority, they dare to create this... parliament and declare it the legitimate government of man!"

Crown Prince Baldwin and Prince Abdul-Rahman looked each other, worried looks on their faces as they both knew well how their father was taking this.

"Father, I do not think they planned to insult you," Baldwin said, speaking up uncertainly.

"Oh? Then what is this!? Not only do they spit in my face, but on God's face! The Emperor is ruler of all mankind by God's mandate. It is my _duty_ to rule and protect the humanity!"

"Yes, father," Abdul said. "Yet, we must understand that these people are not us. They are-"

"God forsaken infidels," the Emperor spat, curling his hand into a fist. "We had one Prophet - ONE gift from God - and we managed to pull together. They had hundreds, and who knows how many more charlatans, and they still fight among themselves. I will _not _accept this. I want ambassadors send and want them make clear that this... Alliance of their is to submit to _my_ authority."

"I doubt they would dissolve their new government just like that," Baldwin said, stepping forward as he saw the terrible consequences of a militant stance early. "They are just adjusting to the shock of us being here. Give them some time, they had no idea that our forefathers survived."

"They can keep their petty parliament, I shall treat it like a noble House, but they _must_ recognize my authority. I will not be remembered as the Emperor who failed to unite mankind! I will not be remembered as a weak Emperor!" the Emperor coughed, laying a hand on his chest. "I will retire for the day. I want those ambassadors sent and this mess taken care of."

"We... will take care of it, Father," Baldwin assured as the Emperor of the Star Empire rose and left the room, an attendant following him and calling for the doctor to prescribe the evening medication. Baldwin let out a sigh as his father left earshot. "He is taking this personally. He is letting his emotions cloud his judgement again."

"A year ago this would have not been such a problem, mom would have been able to calm him down," Abdul said with a long sigh. "He is still grieving. He has been so focused on leaving a legacy behind."

"I just fear that this legacy of his wont be the one he wants it to be," Baldwin said, rubbing his neck as he remembered how many aliens viewed Kadar the Third after the Batarian Crusade. "I just hope this all is solved soon. I would not want this problem thrown on my lap; I'm not sure if I could handle it."

"Still, I have to wonder, why do these Earth humans resist us so much? I kinda expected them to gleefully join us in the stars," Abdul said, scratching his chin. "I mean, it's all part of the God's plan, right?"

"God works in mysterious ways. Maybe it's a test? I do not know," Baldwin said and waved his hand. "In the end, it does not matter. We can't prevent father from trying to aggressively make them join us, but we can try to mitigate the damage from this. I am going to try to learn as much as I can about Earth and its history. This might be just a knee jerk reaction from them. It is quite shocking to find that there is already a sizable portion of your species in the space."

"You do that. I will try to talk to our father and have him calm down," Abdul nodded. "Though I don't think there is much learn, they can't be _that _different, right? They are humans after all."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**End Chapter**

**Authors' Note:** _This story is a multi-writer project, and I am posting its end on Fanfiction dot net. The main three in this project is Mandemon, Teen Spirit, and myself, over on the Spacebattles forum. Much of this prologue and the Codex entries below were written by Mandemon, with both of us adding to the core structure and correcting typos._

_This story began as a simple musing by Teen Spirit, then exploded into a much larger project as ideas were put up for the concept. However, as with all fanfiction, we do not own the Mass Effect series. That belongs to EA. The batarians owned some Crusaders a millennium ago, but that ended badly for them._

_Codex Entries are also available for those who wish to read them, and will be included at the end of every chapter if applicable._

**Codex: Holy Star Empire of Jerusalem**

The Holy Star Empire of Jerusalem is composed of the descendants of humans captured by batarian slavers in 1692 (Galactic Standard), who managed to overpower their captors and crash landed on the salarian colony of Dinalin. The Citadel offered its assistance to the dislocated humans after being informed of their situation. While initially mistrustful and superstitious of Citadel species, the humans eventually accepted the aid after suffering food poisoning from local flora. The Citadel Council was unable to trace back the route used by the slavers or locate the homeworld of the humans. As such, they were offered a small planet to colonize.

The Holy Star Empire of Jerusalem is highly religious nation, with it's main religion being Faith of Abraham, formed after appearance of prophet Peter the Second. His speech of ending the schism of two former conflicting religions, known as Christianity and Islam, and melding the two into a singular religion, is generally held as the birth date of the Empire. The Empire is ruled by the Emperor, who is both head of Holy Church Of One God and is said to receive an heavenly mandate to rule over the Empire and Mankind. Imperial missionaries are a common sight in Terminus Systems, though their official presence is limited. The Empire is widely held as aggressive nation, especially after their Crusade against the Batarian Hegemony.

**Codex: Relay 314 Incident**

The Relay 314 Incident, also known as the First Contact War by the Systems Alliance, was a two week long conflict over a colony of Shanxi. A turian patrol, meeting Alliance vessels activating a relay, opened fire on the humans and followed the survivors to the colony of Shanxi, which they proceeded to occupy as a police action. The situation was soon resolved however, when the Turian Hierarchy informed the Council and Star Empire of the Empire's violation of Citadel Law and the occupation of Shanxi, to which Empire responded that it did not have such a colony. A ceasefire was soon established and peace followed, with the Alliance being granted observer status in the Citadel until their decision to seek affiliate status.

**Codex: The Human Situation**

The Human Situation refers to the political situation involving the Holy Star Empire of Jerusalem and the System Alliance. While the two sides do not have official grievances, the appearance of System Alliance has raised questions of which one is to be the representative of humanity on the Citadel. The Empire holds that it has the right, due to its long membership, whereas the System Alliance claims that the Empire speaks only for itself, but the Alliance represents a larger variety of human traits and hold that the Empire is only a fraction of humanity's history yanked out of its context. The Empire holds that the Alliance has strayed from the grace of God and aggressively seeks to absorb Alliance into itself. The Alliance, while officially having no position in the matter, refuses to acknowledge Emperors status as the Emperor of Mankind and also rejects the Faith of Abraham as a state religion.

The Alliance holds that it is ready to accept a two nation solution, with both nations being represented as separate political entities with their own embassies and representation. However, this has raised issues of humanity gaining too much representation compared to other species, or even Council species. The Empire holds that there is only one Humanity to represent and they are already representing it and urges the Alliance to merge with the Empire.

However, recently crowned Emperor Baldwin the Third has lessened Empire's stance somewhat and has stated that he is open for a possible joint representation. The Alliance has yet to officially state their stance on the offer.


	2. Priority: Eden Prime

**Twenty Six Years After First Contact with Citadel**

**2183 CE (2683 GS)**

_**SSV Normandy**_

"So, what was the deal with us taking an extra trip through the Citadel?" Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams asked the pilot of new_ SSV Normandy_, folding her arms as she stood behind his chair.

"Beats me. All I know is we stopped there and somebody came aboard." The pilot said, his hands flying all across the holoscreens as he talked. "Maybe some admiral or other wanting to do an inspection. I was too busy adjusting the engines to sneak a peak."

"_Commander Williams, you there?_" A voice from the intercom spoke.

"In the cockpit, sir." She answered as she tapped the nearby intercom access.

"_Report to my quarters, ASAP."_

"Yes sir." Ashley said as the connection cut off and the interface blinked out.

"Ooh, mysterious visits to the seat of galactic government and calls to the captain's quarters." The pilot said sarcastically as he glanced up at her. "Maybe we've become, like, spies! Or the captain wants to defect to the Empire with this new fancy bauble to win over the Emperor."

"Right, and I am the next Spectre." Ashley retorted, snorting at the idea. "Take care, Joker."

"You too." Joker said as Ashley turned to leave, continuing to move his hands rapidly as he handled the duties of piloting the ship.

It didn't take Ashley long to reach her destination a deck below, passing by an off duty Pressley and Chakwas discussing the new dextro-amino medical supplies and the implications thereof. A turn to the left, and she was in the main mess hall of the ship where Lieutenant Alenko was fiddling with an interface to the right of her destination. The door opened and she stepped into the captain's quarters on board the _Normandy_. Anderson had called her suddenly, which could never be a good sign from her experience. She saluted Anderson.

"Commander Williams reporting, sir."

"At ease, LC." Anderson said, returning the salute and Ashley relaxed. "Good thing you came so soon, I actually get to tell this to you first."

"Sir?"

"As you know, our last visit was to the Citadel, as per the request of Ambassador Udina. He had... interesting news to tell me. The Alliance has been pushing to having our own representation, separate from Empire. And now we might have gotten our first step to fully recognized independence." Anderson said, picking up a datapad from the table and handing it to Ashley. "They agreed to accept one Spectre from the Alliance. The Empire grumbled about it little bit, but didn't push the issue. Still, Council is presenting a compromise: two Spectres, one from us, one from them."

"That is great, sir, but how does that relate to me?" Ashley asked, looking down at the data pad and immediately freezing as she saw the Spectre insignia on it over a link to a dossier...

"You have been chosen as a candidate."

"What?!" she shouted as the realization hit her like she had been caught goldbricking on Titan. "Sir, I've only recently started my N7 training! How would I…" she paused as a bemused look crossed Anderson's face and she recovered. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Granted. And yes, it's because of your grandfather. Consider it... a payback." Anderson said with a grin. "And no, I didn't do this, this was the higher ups; Admiral Hackett, actually."

Somehow a Shanxi veteran suggesting it did not surprise her. "So, what now?"

"Well, we picked up a Spectre and a Spectre candidate from the Empire while we were on the Citadel. Here's how the system works: each candidate is paired with another from the other state while one Spectre is to observe and evaluate who should be considered for the position." Anderson explained as she looked over the details on the datapad. "We've got our people on their ships, working alongside Empire candidates and since you got selected, we get house you and your pair." Someone hit the door chime. "That must be them." He hit a key on his console and the door opened.

Ashley turned around and saw a turian and a human female walking in. The turian was wearing a standard, but clearly advanced, pattern of battle armor with one weapon latched to his back and a sidearm. The human, on the other hand, was wearing what looked like platemail armor from centuries that had long since passed, but Ashley recognized the pattern immediately from the news. Knight Hospitaller armor with a tabard showing heraldry that she did not recognize.

"Sorry we're late, Captain Anderson. I didn't believe it was possible to get lost in a frigate." The turian said with a slight shrug. Ashley tensed her body defensively out of instinct, though the turian sounded quite friendly.

"Quite so. The design is... interesting," The human said as Ashley found herself analyzing her counterpart like it was a threat identification test in basic. "Feels more like an oversized fighter than a warship and that is a good thing. Never underestimate importance of maneuverability."

"Nice to see you again, Nihlus." Anderson greeted with a smile to the turian. "Commander Williams, this is Spectre Nihlus. Accompanying him is..." Anderson stopped for a moment and the human bowed.

"Sir Etel, of House Shepard, of the Order of Hospitallers." She introduced herself before pausing with a faint curl of her lip before straightening up. "That is, until my introduction to the ranks of the Spectres."

"You're from Empire?" Ashley asked, unable to shake the absurdity of knights in the modern day from her mind.

"I am here as a servant of the Council first and foremost. Whatever grievances our two nations have shall not impede me in my line of duty." She explained as she held her hands open. "I am not here to cause trouble."

"Well, you're not a servant of Council just yet, but do well and I will put your name forward." Nihlus said. Ashley was sure that if he was human, Nihlus would of had a faint smirk.

"Yes sir." Shepard said, adjusting the collar of the tabard over her armor as Nihlus looked over to her.

"The same for you, Commander Williams. This is no contest and I will be evaluating both of you based on your merits, not who's the better of the pair."

"I understand." Ashley answered with a nod as she noticed that Shepard had a sword hanging from her waist. "You people still use swords?" She asked, pointing at the scabbard. "I would of thought that K-Barriers would of made them more or less useless."

"Mostly ceremonial, to be honest. I am to return it to the order once they have dealt with the paperwork relating me leaving them and joining the Spectres." Shepard said, waving her hand casually. "The order was not keen on me leaving them, despite the honor this would bring to my House."

"Quite so. Your grandmaster was quite insistent that you really shouldn't join Spectres." Nihlus said before turning back to Ashley and walking over. "Congratulations for your candidacy, Commander. Very few are even considered for the position and even fewer are chosen as a Spectre. To be chosen as a candidate, even if you do not become a Spectre, is a great honor. A sign of your skills." He explained and he extended his hand. Ashley took it and the two shook. She then turned to Shepard, curious to see the reaction and saw that her imperial counterpart was shaking her head, leaving the N6 wondering what was wrong as Anderson spoke up.

"Now that the introductions are done, let's get this show on the road." Anderson's voice shook her from the idle wondering. "Our first job is to oversee the transfer of a recently discovered Prothean artifact to Council representatives. Requested by the Council and approved by the Alliance," he added as Ashley raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed." Nihlus said. "I shall contact the Citadel and report that we are heading for the first mission. Captain, Commander." Nihlus nodded to them and turned to leave. Shepard activated her omni-tool to check something.

"It's almost 1500, Nod time. If you would excuse me, I should retreat somewhere quiet to carry out my prayers."

"Go ahead. The sleeping pods should be empty at this." Anderson said as he glanced to his left, the direction of the sleeping pods on the other side of the wall.

"Thank you, Captain." She said. "With your permission?"

"Well, I'm not your superior, but dismissed." Anderson said, an amused smirk crossing his face.

"You are still the captain of the vessel and thus, you outrank me." Shepard said, giving a short bow and leaving. After she left, Ashley turned to Anderson and had to fight to stop the alarm klaxon blaring in her mind from turning into insubordination.

"Sir, is it wise?" Ashley asked worriedly.

"Wise to do what?" Anderson asked as he turned to look at her.

"This ship is top of the line of Alliance Navy, loaded with the latest and best equipment we have. Is it really wise to let outsiders, especially from the _Star Empire_ walk around freely? Not to mention aliens."

"I was worried about that too, at first, but considering that this ship was developed with the turians, I think the Turian Hierarchy and Council already know everything they want to know." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The Empire... well, I might not be sure about this 'Sir' Shepard, but the dossier Nihlus sent me indicated that she would not turn into a spy for the Empire while a Spectre candidate. Something to the effect of not being chivalrous."

"It's still a security risk."

"Perhaps. We will keep eye on them, though. You, on the other hand, need to get familiar with the mission briefing. This is your big chance," Anderson said, pointing at her and then the datapad. "This is a big deal for us, for _you_. While they might have dropped the official charges against your grandfather, this is the point where you can show those idiots back on Earth that Williams is a good name to have."

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir." Ashley said automatically.

"Besides, maybe you can get someone to talk religion with you finally." Anderson said with a grin not unlike that of a schoolboy about to see a playground brawl.

"Sir, I doubt me and Shepard have much common." Ashley almost rolled her eyes at the implication. "The Star Empire's, shall we say, a little bit too eager with their religion. You know, Emperor Titus stating his only acceptable solution and all. Even with the new Emperor lessening the stance."

"Still, you never know. We haven't been in contact with the Empire for a long time, so maybe it's just the first impressions." Anderson said as he glanced towards the direction of the sleeping pods again. "Still, not being antagonistic towards her would work a lot towards making you a Spectre. Compromising and all."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fifteen minutes later, Ashley was eating her meal alongside Kaidan. She had just finished telling him about the recent events. Kaidan scratched his chin before speaking.

"Well, can't say I saw this one coming. From grandchild of an almost-disgraced general to potential Spectre. Planning to become a Councilor too?" He said, earning a thrown nutrient pellet for his joke.

"Ha ha, leave joking to Joker." Ashley said. "And no, I don't plan to become a Councilor. I'm a soldier, not a politician. God help me if I ever have to play politics." She looked and saw Shepard picking up her meal from the cook and walking to the table.

"Mind if sit with you?" She asked. Ashley looked at Kaidan before gesturing to the seat next to her. "Thank you."

"Kaidan, this is Sir Shepard, a Knight Hospitaller and our new teammate for the evaluation time. Sir Shepard, this is Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. He is our biotic support and the field medic."

"Nice to meet you." Shepard said, extending her hand across the table for a shake. "And you can just call me Shepard, I was under assumption your people do not use aristocratic titles anymore?"

"Normally no, but I was thinking of being polite." Ashley explained.

"Shepard will be fine."

"So, Shepard, you're from the Empire?" Kaidan asked, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his forehead briefly.

"Fourth child of Duke John Shepard. We got nice claim in Aramis system, a planet called Akko. It's been under terraforming for last 30 years, but it's not a bad place." Shepard answered as she began poking her food with her fork. "We are hoping to introduce some plants to it in few months and maybe finally dismantle the dome and make it open space colony."

"So, you're a noble?" Ashley asked, cocking her eyebrow.

"Technically yes, though I am more likely going to be remembered by my Aristocratic merits." She said "So, what about our captain? Is he a Noble or Aristocratic? I know you people address superiors as Sir, no matter how big the difference. What about yourself, Commander? As I recall, you grandfather was a general."

"Umm..." Kaidan said, looking at Ashley before giving her a slight nod.

"We... um... We don't have a nobility system. So I guess everyone is a commoner?" Ashley said slowly as she tried to figure out how to put it. "Not sure how it translates, but there's no real nobility in the legal system anymore." Shepard turned her head, as if the idea refused to fit into her head.

"So... how do you make sure who is in charge of what? Or what social contracts to maintain?" She asked, her face twisted in confusion.

"Democratically elected representatives running the government." Ashley said, "And with the military, its more or less merit based promotions."

"Sounds needlessly complicated to me." Shepard said, shrugging. "Civil side - military makes sense."

"Democracy might be the worst form of government to some people," Kaidan cut in, "but its better than everything else we've tried."

"Huh?"

"He's paraphrasing Winston Churchill," Ashley answered. "Wartime politician in the 1940s - common era." Shepard still looked confused. "More or less _Anno Domini_."

"Ah." Shepard nodded. "So, I got to tell about myself. What about you?"

"Well, I am oldest of the four children. Been serving under Captain Anderson for the past ten years. He has been a great mentor." Ashley explained. "Not much to really tell. My family has always been in Alliance military, so yeah. Why not?"

"I guess that is better reason than not being expected to achieve anything." Shepard said, finally tasting the food, her face switching between several expression before swallowing and her face settling in confused expression. "What is this? I thought the thing they served on board _COS Judgement_ was strange, but this?"

"Huh?" Ashley said, tasting her own food again. "I don't taste anything weird. It's chicken, with some nutrient pellets on side."

"Chicken? Some animal on Earth?" Shepard asked, taking a cautious bite again.

"Yeah. A sort of bird that can't fly." Kaidan said. Shepard poked her food again. "And no, that is not what it normally looks like. It's a synthetic version. Those always taste worse than the real deal."

"I see... At least it isn't varren meat." Shepard said. "Ever tasted varren?" Both Ashley and Kaidan shook their heads. "Trust me, it's bad. No matter what sort of sauce you put it into, no matter how you cook it... ugh."

"We'll uh, keep that in mind." Kaidan said, finishing his meal. "See you later, Ash." He said and left.

"So, a knight, huh?" Ashley asked, starting to feel curious herself. "So, what do Knights Hospitallers do?"

"Well, we mainly protect people, hunt down slavers, bust criminal organizations, provide protection to colonies, and so forth." Shepard explained before cautiously taking another bite, twisting her neck briefly as she swallowed. "Hmm... You don't have Orders, so how to better explain it..."

"Something like mercenary outfits?" Ashley asked.

"I guess that would be closest to it, I think. We don't get paid, though the Order gets lots of donations and Empire supports us since we are an officially recognized Chivalric Order." Shepard explained. "Hospitallers are more concerned in battle against injustice than running other services. God may protect us, but He also wants us to protect ourselves. What good would it do to people, if they are reliant of God's protection on all? We would grow weak."

"God is mysterious like that." Ashley said, finishing her meal before noticing that Shepard was studying her much closer than she had been before.

"You're a convert?" Shepard finally asked. "I didn't see you praying."

"No, although I do believe in God, though not the Star Empire's denomination." Ashley explained. "Most of us don't pray on schedule. Seems... superficial to pray just because it's time. You should only pray if you really have something to say." She shrugged.

"Hmm... can't really comment, I am not that well versed in theology." Shepard said, tapping the table. "Though, fair warning, there are some who would take this as a big issue. If you're ever travelling Empire side, just be careful who you talk to."

"Thanks, I think."

"You're welcome. In an unrelated question though, do you know where the armory is? I would assume you have a shooting range there. I want to test my weapons and make sure everything is calibrated."

"Downstairs, take the elevator. Just don't head behind it when you get down, that's engineering. Be sure to talk with Jenkins, he's on armory duty and can set up targets." Ashley said, picking her tray and standing up. "Might join you later, I got my own guns to adjust."

"I look forward to it." Shepard said, returning to her meal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sometime later, Ashley decided it was time to do the calibrations on the weapons, whether or not Shepard would be there. As she walked towards the elevator that would take her to lower levels, she ran into Jenkins, a rookie who seemed to have more energy than anyone else.

"Oh, hi Commander!" Jenkins said, "So, what's going on? Eden Prime doesn't sound like a place that would interest Spectres."

"Can't really say, Richard." Ashley replied, using his first name to clue him in he was able to speak freely.

"Really? Come on, something is going on. We got a Spectre, a real Spectre onboard as well as a religious nutball." Jenkins said, "Spectres are the best of the best! They don't send them for nothing and why would there be an imp with him?"

"Imp?" Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Imp, you know… Imperial. Shorthand, like, 'You crazy imp'." He paused before shrugging. "But yeah. Why would Nihlus need someone from the Empire?"

"That's Council's job to decide. And while I understand some might not like the Empire, we are still soldiers and expected to act like it. So don't go calling our guest 'a religious nutball', okay?"

"Sure, sure. I mean, it's just, come on! They live like they're in the twelfth century! Emperors and knights and all that?"

"Japan is still technically an empire with an emperor as the head of government." Ashley noted.

"Yeah, and they still are more modern than this Empire of Jerusalem." Jenkins scoffed, "It's just, it's like looking at the worst time of the history with them you know? I wouldn't be surprised if their so-called 'commoners' are just a tools for their nobility to enjoy lazy life."

"Well, can't comment much on that. Never really studied Empire's social structure, apart from few things. All I know they got their three tiered system and that's it. Besides, not much we can do about it."

"Maybe, but I don't like them. I like my freedoms. I don't like them pushing us to abandon them." Jenkins muttered.

"Jenkins, don't make me pull rank on you. Zip the thoughts, smile and shake hands and let someone else deal with them, okay?"

"Yes ma'am." Jenkins said, giving a salute and leaving.

Ashley just shook her head, the kid wasn't bad, but tended to swing from one extreme opinion to another. Ashley called up the elevator and headed down to the combined cargo hold/armory. She saw that the quartermaster had already helped Shepard put up a simple holographic shooting range with some spare crates set up to catch stray rounds. Shepard was tinkering with her rifle's scope, before taking aim and firing a short burst.

"Everything cool down here?" Ashley asked as she walked to her locker.

"Hm? Oh, hello Commander. Everything is okay. Just some minor misalignment in the scope. Shouldn't be too bad, never really had a knack for weapon maintenance. I'm better at wrecking things than fixing them."

"I see..." Ashley said, picking up her own rifle and starting the maintenance procedure, "So, can I ask you one thing?"

"Yes, but I can't promise I will answer depending the question."

"Plate mail? Really?"

"Just looks like it. It's a symbolic thing. In reality, this thing houses kinetic barriers, omni-tools, the works. Everything needed by a modern soldier."

"Still, I remember reading plate mail was rather... cumbersome."

"Maybe in the past, but the ones issued to us in the Order are custom made and only look the part, not act it. The materials are modern. Of course, the extra centimeter is appreciated when the barriers are down. Might save your life."

"Uh-huh." Ashley said, begin to adjust the mods for her weapon, "So, what sort of rifle is that? Never seen one before."

"This one?" Shepard asked, lifting the rifle, "Thunder IV, made by... I think it's Haliat Armory? Order buys from them mostly. It's turian designed, excess weapons so not the best there is, but works for me. What about you?"

"Bog standard Lancer," she answered as she curled her lip, looking down at it. "Well, a Lancer V, but its had some modifications."

Shepard's eyebrow raised. "Good with weapon maintenance and modification?"

"More or less; first thing Alliance soldiers learn about their guns is how to maintain them and how to correct the flaws. The Lancer series is good and solid, but new stuff always has small oversights."

"Suppose so. Don't know if it works until you try it out." Shepard looked down the scope of her rifle and fired a few rounds into the holographic dummy, the kinetic barriers around it flashing to absorb the rounds. "So, I haven't seen you in armor yet. What kind do you use?"

"Got old Sirta Foundation gear back in basic; Phoenix line armor." She winced as she remembered the remarks she got when wearing it. "Color scheme was terrible, but the extra medi-gel was a welcome boost."

"I thought Sirta Foundation made medicine, not war materials." Shepard said with a frown. "Though, what color scheme?"

"White for the most part."

"That's not so…"

"Over pink."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, not sure who came up with the idea of pink battle armor." Ashley shivered. "I'm just glad I upgraded. The Onyx series might not have the extra medi-gel, but it actually stops bullets a lot better." Ashley nodded as she finished fitting in the adjusted scope and checked the extra heat sink and nodded to herself. "You mind?" she asked as she nodded to the dummy.

"Go ahead, should probably cool this off anyways." Shepard stepped out of the way and Ashley took her position, unloading the rifle into the dummy and mentally counting how long it lasted before it overheated and started beeping insistently at her. She smiled as she let go of the trigger; sixty shots before it overheated. _Good thing the cooldown system works mid-firing,_ she thought.

"Upgraded heat sink?" Shepard asked. "I really hope you don't lay down that kind of overheating during a firefight."

"Not in most cases." Ashley answered. "Though its a good idea to know how many you can get if you lay it down."

"True." The two paused and it was silent in the engineering bay save for Adams checking on the Mako. Shepard pulled out her shotgun and took a few shots downrange, muttering angrily as the shots went wide and Ashley's omni-tool chirped.

"Williams here," she answered as Shepard waited for the shotgun to cool down.

"_You might want to get up to the crew deck, Jenkins and Alenko are about to try something."_ It was Chakwas, and she sounded rather amused at the whole scenario.

"I'm on my way up." Ashley answered. Shepard glanced to her and gave her a nod, and Ashley left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**A Few Hours Later**

Ashley stood in the cockpit of the _Normandy_, watching the ship approached the relay. She didn't know where Shepard or Nihlus had gone, but she assumed that Shepard was still downstairs checking her weapons.

"Arcturus Prime relay is in range. Initiating transmission sequence." Joker said as she could make out the object glowing in the distance.

"We are connected. Calculating transit mass and destination... The relay is hot, acquiring the approach vector." Joker continued on as the relay drew closer and seemed to glow brighter. "All stations secure for transit." Ashley sat down on an empty chair. While the mass effect could reduce the inertia to the point of nothing, there were still enough stories of people falling on their butts as a result of a relay jump, even if Ashley had never had it happen to her.

Nihlus joined them in the cockpit, watching as Joker and Kaidan worked their consoles. Ashley began to check the status of the ship. She did not understand much of it beyond broad scopes she had picked up by proverbial osmosis, but at least she looked like she was busy.

"The board is green. The approach run has begun." The relay was more or less dominating the viewport and the automatic visual dampeners were activating to prevent the light from being blinding. "Hitting the relay in 3... 2... 1..." A bolt jumped out of the core of the relay, enveloping the ship as the world blueshifted. For a moment, the world outside looked like a series of lines, moving from blue to red. Just as quickly it had happened, it ended, and they were hurtling through what looked like a blue fog cloud.

"Thrusters check, navigation, check. Internal emission sink engaged. All systems online Drift..." Joker said, pausing for a moment to check some value. "Just under 1,500 k."

"1,500 is good. Your captain will be pleased." Nihlus said with a nod. "Commander." Nihlus said to her and left.

"I hate that guy." Joker said once the turian was out of earshot.

"What, 'cause he complimented you?" Ashley said, standing up and taking the spot Nihlus had been standing in.

"When you remember to zip up your jumpsuit on your way out of the bathroom, that's good. I just jumped us across the galaxy for to a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible."

"Right, and nobody else in the galaxy does that." Ashley rolled her eyes at the pilot bravado. "Especially not since it's the center of the intergalactic travel."

"Besides," Joker continued on unabated by the sarcasm, "Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him or that Empire gal onboard. Call me paranoid."

"Paranoid? What, nobody clued you in?" Kaidan asked in surprise.

"On what?"

"Nothing." Ashley said, shaking her head to Kaidan, who just nodded.

"Hey, no leaving the guy in charge of piloting a ship out of potentially dangerous things." Joker demanded. "I wanna know if I need to start breaking galactic speed records. And don't think I can't - I more or less stole the _Normandy_ to test it!" Ashley and Kaidan both rolled their eyes - this was not the first time Joker bragged about that.

"It's just a pick up mission." Kaidan finally said. "You read the reports everyone was given. Go to Eden Prime, pick up a prothean artifact, head to the Citadel, drop it off."

"Yeah, but why a Spectre and an Empire soldier? Why the _Normandy_, a top of the line prototype ship? Don't we have, I don't know, cargo ships for this? When they told me I was going to be pilot of _Normandy_ they didn't tell me we were a courier service. Unless this is Anderson's idea of punishment..."

"Technically, the Empire soldier is a knight. Yeah, I know," Ashley added as Joker turned around to give her an incredulous look. "And what, you don't like the _Normandy_?"

"Oh, the _Normandy's _great. She could dance around every single ship in the galaxy, as long as someone capable is in the helm. Good thing I am."

"And humble too." Kaidan commented. "Besides, the Council helped fund this project. While they might not have been on the shakedown run, they want to have someone keeping an eye on their investment."

"That's the official story," Joker countered, "and only an idiot buys the official-"

"_Commander Williams, Sir Shepard, report to the communications room for debriefing."_ Anderson's voice came from the intercom.

"Looks like you are wanted commander. Good luck." Joker said as Ashley turned to leave. Behind her she heard Anderson asking Joker for the status of the ship and saying something that apparently pissed off the captain. The _Normandy's_ CIC was bustling with activity, but she could see Pressley talking with another crewman in annoyance over Nihlus while Chakwas was trying to calm an agitated Jenkins down.

"I grew up on Eden Prime, doc! It's not the place Spectres visit!" Jenkins elaborated. "There's something Nihlus isn't telling us about this. Nevermind that Empire flunky, though I could see one of them being mad at the name."

Chakwas snorted, shaking her head in annoyance. "That's crazy; the Captain's in charge. He wouldn't take orders from a Spectre. Nevermind someone from the Empire."

"Not his choice, doc. Spectres don't answer to anyone, they can do whatever they want, kill anyone who gets in their way."

"You watch too many spy vids, Jenkins!" Chakwas admonished as Ashley passed by behind them.

"And that Empire girl? Probably a spy. You heard old Emperor Titus, you were around for that."

"Yes, I was…" the rest of the conversation was cut off as the door closed behind Ashley as she entered the short ramp that lead to the room itself.

"Commander." Shepard said with a nod, having come in behind her.

"Sir Shepard." Ashley returned the nod as they stepped inside the communications room, Shepard following her. Inside, both Nihlus and Anderson were waiting for them.

"You are both here. Good." Anderson said. "This will be pretty simple mission."

"We are to go to Eden Prime," Nihlus continued. Though Ashley could not be sure, she was sure she saw Shepard's hand clenched before relaxing. "It's one of the oldest Alliance colonies." Nihlus said, briefly nodding at Shepard. "Our job is pretty simple. We..."

"_Captain? Transmission from Eden Prime, sir, you better see this!" _Jokers voice cut in with a hint of panic.

"Bring it up on screen." Anderson said, as everyone turned to around to watch as a communications window popped open. The image showed Alliance troopers engaged in heavy fighting. An officer ran to whoever was broadcasting the video message.

"_We are under attack by an unknown hostile force! Taking heavy casualties, I repeat, heavy casualties!"_ An explosion cut him off as he covered his head and shrapnel flashed off of his kinetic barrier._ "-eed evac! They came from nowhere! The enemy is using unknown weaponry! We don't know how long we-"_

"_BIG ONE COMING!_" Someone shouted at the back.

"_Fall back! We don't have firepower to deal with those!"_ The officer shouted. The camera shook for a moment, as the camera operator tried to move before the video stopped.

"_Everything cuts after that. No comm traffic at all. Just static."_ Joker said.

"Rewind and pause at 38.5." Anderson said. The image reversed and stopped at the specified point. In the background, a ship could be seen dropping something to the ground. "Any idea who uses those?" Anderson asked, turning to Nihlus. Nihlus didn't say anything, but merely brought up his omni-tool and typed something into it.

"Hmm... It's not exact match, but..." The turian said cautiously, turning his omni-tool off. "But it matches geth ship profiles."

"_Geth_? Out here?" Shepard asked in confusion. "They would have had to go through either Batarian space or through the Empire!"

"Or they used some back route nobody knew about." Ashley offered.

"Joker, status report." Anderson demanded.

"_Sixteen minutes out captain. No other Alliance ships in vicinity. Closest group is two hours away."_

"Take us in Joker, fast and quiet. This mission just got a lot more complicated."

"_Aye aye captain."_ Joker said.

"A small strike team can move quickly without drawing attention and the _Normandy_'scapabilities would allow a covert drop. It is our best chance to secure the Beacon." Nihlus said, looking at the picture. "I think it would be a good way to see how well you two work together without prior experience. Captain, can you offer two more?"

"Commander, tell Alenko and Jenkins to suit up. They are coming with you. Suit up and meet us at the cargo hold. " Anderson said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Twenty Minutes Later**

_**Normandy**_** Engineering Bay**

"_Approaching the drop point, stealth systems holding, the geth won't see us unless they directly look at us."_ Joker's voice said.

"Good. Commander Williams, since this is Alliance territory you've got command of the mission. Less diplomatic incident material that way." Anderson said.

"Good call, Captain." Nihlus answered as he affixed something to his left boot and another to his right.

Anderson continued past the compliment. "Your primary mission is to secure the beacon, everything else comes after that."

"Woah, we get to work with a real Spectre!" Jenkins muttered to himself, looking as Nihlus was now checking his shotgun, a highly advanced model from what Ashley could make from it and based on the label on the solid ammunition block he loaded into it, specialized at that.

"What about civilians?" Ashley asked as the wind was howling against the closed bay doors.

"Secondary. Support if possible, but your main goal is to get to the dig site! Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good. I want radio silence beyond critical mission updates."

"_The LZ is secure, no hostiles detected. Making the final approach._" Joker's voice sounded from the intercom.

"The mission is yours, Williams." Anderson said, giving a salute. The rest of the crew, minus Nihlus and Shepard, returned it.

Anderson left the cargo bay just as the door opened. The team jumped down the whole drop, landing with crouches before standing. Landing last, Kaidan looked up as they watched the _Normandy_ fly off. Ashley gestured for Alenko and Jenkins take the point, with Shepard falling behind to cover their rear and Nihlus taking a position next to her.

"Quick check, special skills I should be aware of?" Ashley asked as she looked around their immediate landing zone.

"Biotics, tech, and medical." Kaiden added.

"Just your average grunt." Jenkins' voice sounded.

"Tech mainly." Nihlus added.

"Biotics." Shepard said last. "The geth really did a number here."

Ashley had to agree. The whole area looked like it had been shelled at some point. In the distance, she could see skyscrapers burning as well as anti-aircraft fire.

"Yes, they did. We better make sure they don't benefit from it." Ashley replied, "Jenkins, you're on the point. Alenko, with Nihlus. Shepard, you're with me." Ashley ordered, with Jenkins and Kaidan nodding and moving to their new positions. Shepard moved next to her as they watched Jenkins slowly creep up a cliffside.

Nobody said anything until Jenkins took cover behind some rocks, peered out and signaled others to follow. First, Nihlus and Kaidan moved up. As Ashley and Shepard prepared to move out, a faint buzzing sound could be heard. A group of drones popped over the cliff.

"Get into cover, open fire!" Ashley shouted.

Jenkins hurled himself to the side, bullets whizzing towards him as both Nihlus and Kaidan's omni-tools glowed and small discs shot towards the drones and exploded with a pulse, overloading the drones shields and slowing them down, giving Jenkins enough time to move towards the rocks. Ashley and Shepard had opened fire with their rifles and took out one of the drones before they recovered from the tech attacks. The drones opened fire, greenish blue bullets whizzing into Jenkins' chest and he collapsed behind the rocks with a scream.

"Shit, Jenkins!" Ashley shouted as she dropped behind cover next to Kaidan. Nihlus and Shepard were to their sides, with Shepard closer to Jenkins.

"I've got him!" Kaidan shouted, "Cover me!"

"You heard the medic!" Ashley ordered as she laid down a suppressive burst with her rifle, the drones moving erratically to try and get around the cover and finish him off. Nihlus leapt out of cover and towards one of the drones, the small items affixed to his boots earlier revealing them to be _jet boots_ as he leapt at the nearest drone and caught its stabilizer fin, dragging it to the ground before it could finish Jenkins off and drawing fire from the other drones, which impacted off of his kinetic barriers and his omni-tool glowed again, the drone he held on to now turning to fire on the other geth drones.

One of the drones fell into Ashley's sights as it tried to sniff Kaidan. His omni-tool began glowing over Jenkins' limp body and she took the shot, several rounds sailing into the drone and destroying it, Meanwhile Shepard released a biotic attack at one of the drones, causing it to crash into the ground.

"Kaidan, status on Jenkins?" Ashley shouted as she, Shepard and Nihlus secured the perimeter.

"Alive, the shots didn't manage to damage anything vital." Kaidan said, helping Jenkins up. "Little bit medigel and he has something to show off. Still, a centimeter or so to the side and..." he left the rest unsaid.

"Can you fight?" Ashley asked Jenkins, who reached for his rifle and nodded, "Alright, let's move people. Geth can probably share data, no doubt they know that we're here by now. I'd rather not wait for them. Nihlus, you said you got tech, so I assume you've got slightly better sensors than the rest of us, at least Spectre gear that is above the norm?"

"I will take the point." Nihlus said and moved forward.

"Alright. Shepard, once again you're with me. Alenko, look after Jenkins until he is fully stabilized."

"Understood, commander." Came Kaidan's reply.

"Alright team, let's move." Ashley ordered and the team moved forward, with Kaidan and Jenkins falling into the back. The group came up to a small forest, with Nihlus moving forward and bringing his omni-tool up. Ashley waited few moments before asking Nihlus what he had found.

"Got anything?" Ashley asked.

"At least four drones, two bigger geth signatures and... something. Not sure what." Nihlus reported. "Drones are directly ahead. Geth to the left and two unknowns to the right."

"Understood." Ashley said, looking over the team and then over the area. "Alenko, Jenkins, left. Me and Shepard, right. Nihlus..." She stopped for a moment, thinking, "Do what you do best. Wait for us us to hit them first, while they focus on us, hit them with whatever you got."

"Very well." Came Nihlus' response, though Ashley was not sure if Nihlus was approving the plan or not.

She didn't stop to think about it. She and Shepard moved to their position while Kaidan and Jenkins moved to theirs. Ashley looked at their target and frowned, wondering if she was seeing things. She blinked and looked again, but the image was still there and she pulled up her omni-tool to check her helmet camera: it got it too. She looked over at Shepard who was doing something similar.

"Don't ask me. I have never seen anything like this." Shepard said with a look of worry on her face. Ashley leaned just enough out of cover to permit her helmet camera to get footage of these creatures.

The creatures, while bipedal and with two arms, looked somewhat bug-like. Like batarians they had four eyes, but unlike them they had two on each side their head instead of four more central ones. And they also appeared to have some sort of chitinous exoskeleton. They didn't wear any visible armor, unless their armor was organic. The creatures chirped something to the two geth troopers, before revealing wings and flying upwards and over the rocks.

"Are they leaving?" Shepard asked as she followed the alien movement, hand on the side of her helmet to keep her camera straight as she followed them until they left her line of sight.

"Less for us to fight." She tapped her headset. "Alenko, Jenkins, Nihlus, change of plans. Hostiles on the right just left. Alenko, Jenkins, proceed as planned. Nihlus, help me and Shepard to take down the drones, then support Alenko and Jenkins."

"_Solid copy."_ Kaidan responded.

"_Copy that." _Nihlus said. Ashley looked over to Shepard who nodded.

"On my mark... Mark!"

Ashley saw three discs fly out. Two flew in the middle of the geth, the first one flashing and overloading geths' K-barriers, with second one - a grenade - exploding soon after, causing two to stagger back. The third disc hit a drone, which beeped few times and then started to fire on other drones. Ashley aimed through her rifle scope and took one drone down with a quick burst, and Shepard used her biotics to pull another one down into the ground. Meanwhile, Kaidan had lifted one of the geth troopers into the air with biotics, the machine flailing around to reach for its weapon that had fallen to the ground while other one was being riddled with bullets from Jenkins.

"Yeah! Take that you synthetic bastards! Eat hot lead!" Jenkins shouted as the geth landed head first into the ground.

The hacked drone beeped again and turned towards Ashley, before a shotgun blast blew it out of the sky. The final drone managed to cause Nihlus' shield to flare, before Ashley took it down. Shepard was preparing a biotic blast against the geth floating in the air and released the burst. The clash of biotics exploded and caused geth's head land next to Shepard.

"Nice work. No need for medi-gel this time." Ashley said with a smile. However, before she could get any further, they heard gunfire.

Ashley gestured the team to move forward. Exiting the woods and getting to the top of a small hill, they saw two geth who were doing something to a colonist, placing him on a pedestal, before a metallic spike burst out of the pedestal and impaled the colonist.

"Holy shit!" Ashley swore.

"Those fucking - not even animals!" Jenkins shouted angrily and began to move forward when Kaidan grabbed his shoulder to stop him from running in.

"They have to be stopped," Shepard said with a terrifying amount of venom in her voice as she switched to a shotgun.

"Look, over there!" Nihlus called, pointing with his omni-tool.

An Alliance marine appeared at the top of the hill, on the near side of the trench the geth were on, falling and rolling to the bottom of it. The two geth saw him and raised their rifles. The two creatures the team had seen earlier were chasing after the marine. The Marine's kinetic barrier failed, but the marine was then enclosed by a blue aura - a biotic barrier . The marine managed to get behind some rocks, shotgun in hand and Ashley gestured for the team to attack.

Jenkins opened fire first, blazing away and overheating his Lancer as the team charged down the hill. Kaidan was behind him and charged his biotics, which manifested around one of the geth and lifted it into the air before slamming it back down into the ground - hard enough to make it bounce before being pulled by the other Alliance marine's biotics.

Nihlus was focused on the strange aliens, leaping towards one with his jet boots. The alien leapt into the air and activated its wings for air superiority, but Nihlus blasted it with his shotgun, eviscerating its right wing and the alien fell to the ground. The other one was firing from what looked like an alien rifle, the strange rounds impacting against Ashley and Shepard's barriers as the two dove into cover on opposite sides of the marine. Shepard leaned out to fire and received return fire from the geth trooper and there was a small burst of energy from Shepard's suit.

"No shields!" Shepard shouted as she ducked back into cover. "Shit, those weapons go right through them!"

"Stay down!" Ashley ordered as Jenkins had thrown his rifle to the side and was unloading his with sidearm, hitting the geth trooper that had been focused on Shepard as Kaidan overloaded its shields and Jenkins hit it right in the flashlight. Ashley grit her teeth as she leaned out of cover and fired at the last alien, causing it to retreat.

"Oh no you don't!" Kaidan shouted angrily as he stepped forward from cover and his arms were glowing. "Marine, Shepard! Pull, _now_!"

The three biotics leaned out of their cover and grabbed the alien with their biotics, pulling back with enough force that Jenkins had to leap out of the way as it crashed into the ground, arms and head breaking off and the head landed just next to Jenkins, who unloaded into it with his pistol.

"Jenkins, stand down!" Ashley ordered angrily. "Keep your head in the game; getting pissed is only going to make it easier for them to kill you! Besides, we need every sample of these things we can get - we can't find out what they are if you destroy every sample."

"I have a mostly intact one here." Nihlus said as he looked disapprovingly at Jenkins, not that Ashley could blame either of them - this was Jenkins' home, and that easily could have been a friend or family member. Nihlus was a professional, going berserk was not something you did.

"I…" Jenkins nodded slowly. "Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am."

"Just keep your head down." She glanced to Kaidan. "Good call, by the way."

"Thank you."

"Anyone hurt?" No one answered and she nodded to herself, walking to the marine.

"Finally, reinforcements. How many?" The marine said, sounding tired.

"This is it, we were the closest group." Ashley said, "Who you are? You're in charge here?"

"Gunnery Chief Jacob Taylor, Unit 211 of the Second Frontier Division. We were patrolling the perimeter when the geth hit us, or what we thought was the geth."

"Yes, these things are... quite different." Ashley said, nodding at the dead creature.

"Yeah. You've got mostly geth out here, but the closer you get to the dig site or colony, more of these things start to pop out."

"What about the beacon? Is it secure?"

"Hell if I know. Last I checked the dig site was a massacre." Jacob explained as he caught his breath. "We thought we could save few colonists that were trapped in some pre-fabs, but we came too late. Geth and these things ambushed us. I got separated from the rest of my team, but I assume the geth killed them."

"I see..." Ashley said, "What do you know about the Beacon?"

"They were doing some digging, extending the monorail. Hit the beacon with a big ol' power drill - damn miracle it wasn't damaged." Shepard raised an eyebrow briefly before Jacob continued. "Next thing you knew, the place was crawling with scientists and other eggheads." Jacob said, shrugging. "We were brought in few days ago to secure the site."

"Well Taylor, you're with us now." Ashley ordered. "We are going to secure that beacon again."

"Yes ma'am, it's time for…" he paused then blinked as he finally noticed Shepard. "Is that an Empire flunky?" He asked, pointing at Shepard who was looking over her torn tabard, apparently considering whenever or not to discard the tattered cloth.

"Yes. It's a long story, she and the turian over there are with us. I am Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams, _SSV Normandy_."

"Can we... trust them?" Jacob asked, raising his eyebrow towards them. Shepard and Nihlus both shrugged, indifferent to the marine's opinion of them while Jenkins was staring at the impaled colonist nearby.

"They haven't stabbed us yet and they were onboard the ship when we set the course here. They are here to oversee the transfer of the beacon to the Council." _Shame we couldn't keep it,_ Ashley briefly mused. Being able to keep it like the Mars Archive would have been useful.

"Right. Well, an extra gun is better than no gun." Jacob said finally with a shrug and holding up his battered shotgun.

"Good." Ashley said with a nod. She looked over the team, thinking of possible squad mixes she could do. Putting Jenkins with Shepard was inviting a fight over something, so that was out. Putting a biotic with another biotic was either wasting the potential, or enabling powerful combinations like what Kaidan and Jacob had pulled on that geth trooper. They now had three biotics, more than what would normally be available. Both Kaidan and Nihlus had tech, so putting them together might not be the best idea due to overlapping skill. "Any special skills apart from biotics?"

"Not really." Jacob said.

"Damn it." Ashley muttered to herself. She thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion.

"Okay, time to mix it up. Shepard, Nihlus, with me. We are Team One. That gives us both tech and biotics. Taylor, you're with Alenko and Jenkins. You are Team Two. You're in support, you can easily harass the enemy with those biotics. Lieutenant, you've got command. Jenkins, get your sniper rifle out, you'll probably be in a good firing position to pick off targets. Also, Taylor, can you sync your hardsuit with ours? The shield readouts would be useful."

"Yes ma'am," Jacob said as his omni-tool glowed and the head's up display in Ashley's helmet updated with Jacob's status.

She nodded, glancing to the others who likewise nodded. "Okay, good. Let's get into the teams."

"Understood, ma'am." Jacob said, moving to Jenkins and Kaidan.

"Got it." Kaidan acknowledged as Nihlus and Shepard adjusted their shotguns.

"I - yes ma'am." Jenkins looked somewhat deflated, though he was still looking at the impaled colonist.

"You'll get to stop them," Kaidan added to the young soldier. "They'll just never see you coming."

"Alright, check your gear and prepare to move out." Ashley ordered. "Taylor, you know the route to the dig site, any short cuts we can take?"

"No need. The dig site is just down this trench and over that rise. 212 tried to send a distress signal, but were gunned down before they could do anything. 232 was with the scientists, last I knew they were still holding, but we lost radio contact with them some time ago."

"Alright, time to move out. Team One takes point." Ashley ordered and teams formed up.

Nihlus took the point again as Ashley and Shepard followed Nihlus, covering the sides while Kaidan, Jenkins and Jacob followed behind. Jenkins was coming last, moving from one position to another, always checking his sniper rifles scope to ensure good line of sight over the team.

Finally, the team arrived at the dig site and were looking down from the slope. Geth infantry and the creatures were walking around, as if trying to look for something. Ashley saw Kaidan to gesture Jenkins to move to a sniper position, while he and Taylor moved to side. Ashley hit the headset.

"Okay, Team One hits them first, Team Two, once the enemy is focused on us, hit them from the side. Jenkins, once we are engaged, take out ones in cover if you can." She ordered, receiving confirmations from everyone. "Jenkins, call out anything that shows up."

"_Copy!"_

Ashley nodded to Shepard as she slipped a grenade from her belt before hurling the small device - barely the size of a hockey puck but the same shape, and it latched onto a geth before it exploded into a blinding white light. The geth, while normally would be able to shrug off a flashbang, had their more delicate sensors blinded briefly. But unlike humans who were flashbanged, the geth simply moved to cover and stayed there, though Nihlus managed to get one in the head before it got to cover.

The aliens, however, were more affected and collapsed forward in shock. "Nice job banging the four-eyes," Shep said as she leaned out of cover and blasted one with her shotgun. As she came back into cover as inaccurate fire sprayed towards them, Ashley was smirking at the Hospitaller. "What?"

"Nothing," Ashley answered as she leaned out of cover and sprayed several rounds downrange at the other alien still standing after Kaidan lifted one into the air for Jenkins to snipe and Nihlus overheated the other's gun with a tech attack, causing it to explode in its face - literally, though its biotic barriers caught it and the creature drew a side arm before throwing itself into cover.

The geth had recovered from the flashbang and were now spraying fire in return, dropping both of their kinetic barriers as Kaidan overloaded the geth on the left, which Jacob pulled over the rock it had hid behind, giving Jenkins clear line of sight.

"_Headshot!"_ Jenkins exclaimed.

"_Mind the radio,_" Nihlus chided back as he ignited his jet boots and leapt over the firefight, landing on the other side of the wall from the alien that had survived. It leaned out of cover and sprayed rounds towards Kaidan, who ducked behind cover with a few rounds bouncing off his kinetic barrier. Nihlus reached around as it did so and dragged it around the wall to him and snapped its neck. The creature hit the ground before a claw like blade came out of its hand, but Nihlus was quick and stomped its head in before it could strike.

"Two left!" Shepard shouted as she grappled one of the geth with a biotic pull, smashing it against the wall it managed to get behind before she finished the attack. Ashley saw the other geth moving to take the shot and fired at it, catching it in the chest and knocking it into a pile of its own white fluids.

"Make that one! Nihlus?"

Nihlus was already on it, blasting the last geth that had been slammed against the wall by biotics with his shotgun.

"_Clear!"_

"_All Clear!"_

"_Clear!"_

"This is it," Jacob said as they entered the site. "This is where the beacon was found."

"I thought the protheans made things big," Shepard said, glancing at the ruins. "But this doesn't look like a beacon to me." She looked up into the darkening sky to look at the upper parts of the ruin.

"It was here this morning." Jacob frowned, looking over the empty spot. "They must have moved it."

"But who? Us, or the geth?" Kaidan asked as Jenkins walked up and Kaidan did a quick scan of him with his omni-tool.

"If it was us, the beacon should be by the starport, it's not far from here. If we go through the research camp, we can get there pretty quickly by monorail." Jacob offered, looking up the ramp in the back of the ruins. "With luck, 232 is still alive with the scientists. Maybe they know more."

"Alright people, you heard him. Let's move." Ashley said gesturing Shepard and Nihlus to join her. The slope leading out and up to the camp was too narrow and exposed to really allow team to have a point man, so they moved in one group, with Team One on the front and Team Two covering their rear.

"Jesus Christ..." Ashley muttered in shock as they arrived at the camp to a visceral sight. The entire camp - every last person - had been impaled on the spikes. Jenkins seemed to be even more terrified, walking to one of the spikes with a grimace on his face.

"This makes no sense. Why would the geth commit these kinds of atrocities? It seems... inefficient." Nihlus muttered, looking around, "No bodies on the ground. All impaled. Why? I see no logical reasons for this."

"Do they need one? It's pretty clear these geth and... things are evil." Jenkins said, kicking one of the objects.

"Yes, they need a reason. Geth are machines. They do not have emotions. They are run by logic." Nihlus countered in annoyance as he walked by one of the devices, motioning Jenkins away and scanning it with his omni-tool.

"To scare us?" Shepard offered. "Some slavers like to hang rebellious slaves and leave them hanging, to scare others into submission."

"Doubt they'd be the only ones doing it to keep power." Jenkins added as Kaidan facepalmed. Shepard raised an eyebrow before shrugging.

"These bodies look they have been like this for a while. Livor mortis has set in, so that's probably at least a half hour if not longer." Ashley said, looking over one of the impaled bodies. Her nose told her more than she needed to know and she could see the purplish discoloration in the lower hanging limbs, but with a closer look she realized that it could be something else. "That's not the weird thing, though. Look at those strange cybernetics all over them; those aren't prosthetics with the artificial skin peeled off. Weird." She turned to to the rest of the squad, "Do we have survivors?"

"Yes, you have survivors." A woman's voice answered, as one of the buildings opened. A woman with a short red hair stepped out, followed by a nervous looking man. "Thank the Maker, we thought everyone else was dead."

"We have to get out of here. Before they come back. Back to finish us." The man said, whispering and rubbing his hands together and looking wildly around.

"Don't worry, we'll protect you. We took out the geth and the creatures while on our way here." Ashley said, pointing her weapon in the direction they had come from. "Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams, Alliance Navy. This is my squad."

"Thank you. I think we might be okay now, looks like everyone is gone." The woman nodded.

"You're Doctor Warren, right? You're the head of the excavation." Jacob said, stepping forward. "232 was with you."

"Yes, they gave their lives so we could hide. We managed to hide in one of the pre-fabs, the others... the others were not so lucky." Doctor Warren said, trying to not to look at the impaled soldiers and scientists.

"No one is safe. The age of humanity is coming to an end. Soon, only ruins and corpses will remain." The man said in terror, staring into the sky.

"Is your assistant okay?" Nihlus asked, looking over him with what Ashley assumed was the turian equivalent of a quizzical look.

"I am sorry, Manuel has a brilliant mind, but the line between brilliance and insanity can be... thin at some times."

"Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No I am not mad. I am the only one sane left!" Manuel exclaimed angrily.

"I gave him an extra-dosage of medicine after the attack, he should calm down soon enough." Doctor Warren said, shaking her head.

"Do you know what happened to the beacon?" Ashley asked, trying to ignore Manuel.

"It was moved to the spaceport this morning." Doctor Warren said, "Me and Manuel, as well as few others, stayed behind to back the camp. Then the attack came."

"I'm sorry to hear about it." Ashley said before glancing to the path ahead and nodding to herself. "Anything we should know about the beacon?"

"It seems to be part of a larger communication network, much like our comm buoys. Remarkably well preserved. They seem to double as both means of communications as well as information storage. Who knows what information could be stored inside it? Ground breaking technologies, remarkable scientific discoveries? This beacon could propel our knowledge decades ahead of it's time!"

"Unless the geth get it first." Nihlus said, cutting off the scientist's wonderment. "We should move on."

"Agreed. How far is the starport?" Ashley nodded.

"Monorail station is just over that hill and down, it will take you directly to the starport." Doctor Warren answered, pointing to the path ahead.

"Hmm... Team Two, you stay here and secure the site. Team One, we will scout the station. Once we give all clear, follow us. I suggest you two keep your heads down. Kaidan, help the doc with Manuel if needed."

"Yes, commander." Doctor Warren said. "Come on Manuel, let's get you calmed down."

"Understood, ma'am." Kaidan nodded.

"Alright, let's move people."

Team One moved up to the hill and peered down at the monorail station. Nihlus took the point once again as the team began to descend the slope, moving from cover to cover. Around them, several corpses were impaled on the spikes, some starting to look like they had been there for a longer and covered in more of the strange cybernetics.

The team moved up to the monorail station, ensuring that the no enemies were around. The area was surprisingly empty of enemies. They were on a ramp leading up to the station when Nihlus signaled that he was getting something on his scanner. Shepard moved into position to ascend the ramp. Once she got up there, she swung her shotgun around.

"DON'T MOVE!" Shepard shouted. Ashley and Nihlus moved up the ramp to join her, Nihlus mandibles flared for a moment before he spoke. Ashley saw that there was another turian standing on the platform.

"Saren?" Nihlus asked in shock.

"Nihlus." Another turian answered, this one's skin a shinier grey compared to Nihlus darker coloring.

"What you doing here Saren? This isn't your mission." Nihlus asked, lowering his gun and stepping forward. "You can lower your guns. He is a fellow Spectre." Nihlus said to Ashley and Shepard, who moved to secure the sides.

"I was following a lead I got. I was surprised by the geth." Saren said, looking at the distance where a geth dropship was firing at something. "I did not expect to see geth here. The situation is bad. Not to worry, though. I have some people down the monorail. The beacon is secure, for now."

"The beacon is secure? The geth can't get it?" Ashley moved to ask, curious how the turian could have assets on Eden Prime. "Who do you have there?"

"Some soldiers I met." Saren answered, shrugging the question off. "I came here to try to contact the scientists."

"Only two of them were alive. Rest of them... bad things happened." Ashley explained, looking at several spikes and impaled bodies.

"I see... that is bad."

"_Ashley, come in!" _Kaidan's voice came from the radio, _"I don't how, but bunch of geth creeped up on us… SHIT!"_

"Talk to me Kaidan, what's going on!?"

"_The scientists, the ones that got impaled! They. Are. MOVING! We need help!"_ She could hear a burst of geth gunfire and someone scream. _"Jenkins is down!"_

"Hold on, we're coming!" Ashley shouted to the comm unit before turning to rest, "Team Two needs help, we need to move, fast. Saren, you coming with us?"

"You go ahead, I am going to try and secure the monorail." Saren answered, "I have always been a solo-operative."

Nihlus seemed to be considering whenever to go with Saren or with Ashley and Shepard, before finally nodding.

"We will return shortly. Keep an eye for the enemy." Nihlus said as the team began to run back towards the camp.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Doc, stay down!" Kaidan shouted as he looked at the monsters the spikes had just created. It had happened so fast. The spikes started whirring suddenly and then pulled down and the corpses more or less came to life again - like zombies. Kaidan caught one that was rushing towards Doctor Warren with a biotic field and hurled it into the air. Bullets rained down again as Jenkins pulled himself into a prefab and Jacob was blasting away at the geth on the ridge overlooking the campsite with his shotgun.

"They better get here soon!" Jacob shouted as he ducked back into cover while Kaidan did the same before leaning out again and hurling another biotic throw at the zombie… _things_ rushing them. Another one went flying away and crashed into the other two, knocking them back towards the spikes.

"Psychological warfare, yeah right…" Kaidan muttered as he activated his omni-tool and tried to lean out to overload the geth, but they had found their firing solutions and had them pinned down. If they tried to lean out of cover to shoot or attack with biotics, the strange pulse rounds would tear through their shields.

"Got an idea?" Jacob asked.

"Just one- SHIT!" Kaidan shouted as one of the zombies came up next to him and he punched it in the face instinctively. Jacob had another one attacking him but he managed to charge his biotics and punched it in the face, the head exploding from the sheer biotic force.

"_Holy shit!"_ Doctor Warren shouted as part of the husk's head - or what was left of it - landed on the prefab's door.

Another one managed to latch onto Kaidan and was standing over him, trying to strangle him as Kaidan held it by the throat and was trying to keep it off of him. The geth had to be moving around now as they stopped firing while they were being rushed by the creatures.

_Do something!_ Kaidan thought angrily, trying to think of what to do. Memories from his past flashed by - turns out they were right after all about that - and he moved his right leg under the creature and kicked it away with his biotics. The grip the creature had on him meant that it took him with it, but he broke free and landed next to the rock they were using for cover as he saw geth infantry with rifles trained on him.

"Oh _fu-_"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ashley overheated her assault rifle firing at the geth about to finish Kaidan off as a fireball like burst came from Nihlus' shotgun and scattered the geth group while Shepard ran towards Kaidan and put herself - shimmering with a biotic barrier - between the geth and the Alliance soldier. Ashley slid her assault rifle to its holster and grabbed her shotgun, blasting at the geth as she entered cover to keep them back while her rifle was venting heat. The geth were dropping behind the rock formation again as she could hear someone climbing behind her.

"Watch out!" Kaidan shouted and Ashley turned just in time to see - was that a zombie or some sort of husk?! - trying to attack her and it grabbed her by the upper arm. She snarled as it tried to make a damsel out of her and she punched it in the face before dropping down and knocking its legs out from under it. Her shotgun clattered to the ground but she grabbed her pistol and fired several rounds into the husk as Kaidan caught it with a biotic lift before Jacob launched it towards the geth with a pull.

"What was that?" Ashley asked in horror as she grabbed her assault rifle and turned towards the way in as a few more of the pseudo-undead were trying to rush them.

"No idea!" Shepard answered as the two looked towards the monorail station. Shepard grabbed the nearest one with biotics and hurled it into the ones behind it while Ashley blasted away. Nihlus activated his jet boots again and she heard Kaidan scream, but she also heard geth going down as someone from the prefabs was blasting away with an assault rifle.

One of the creatures managed to close in past her suppressive fire and Shepard's shotgun blasts, but she struck it in the chest and staggered it before Shepard finished it off with a biotic push, knocking it into the rocks and breaking the skull open.

"_Area clear,"_ Nihlus said by radio. _"No hostiles left and I can see both sets of spikes; no more bodies about to wake up."_

"Understood. Everyone alive?" Ashley asked the squad frantically. "Kaidan, Jenkins, talk to me!"

"Ouch... I'm really getting tired of getting shot..." Jenkins moaned as Kaidan administered medigel on his wounds, his assault rifle visibly dissipating heat.

"You'll live." Kaidan told him before turning towards Ashley, who sighed in relief as she saw the two sitting by the prefab. "Doctor Warren and her assistant are safe, they holed up in a prefab and locked it. I took a hit, but my armor caught the worst of it and I got medi-gel."

"Good to hear. They probably should stay there. We need to get to the spaceport and taking them with us puts them directly in the line of fire." Ashley explained as she recovered her shotgun. "Also, we met another turian, Saren. Nihlus recognized him as another Spectre."

"That's weird." Jacob said with a tired, confused look. "They screened all the newcomers and send us the files, we never got any turian."

"Saren prefers to remain anonymous when going undercover. He might have bribed someone to keep him off the record." Nihlus explained as he dropped back down from the ridge, using his jet boots to stop his fall and landing gently.

"I guess so..." Jacob conceded with a shrug.

"Still, we need to head back. Hopefully, this will be the last enemy group we meet here." Ashley said and gestured the squad to move. The squad began to move, with Team One taking the point once again.

"Hold on, what're we going to call those in combat?" Kaidan said, gesturing back to the reanimated bodies. "I've never seen those before and calling them zombies is hard to take seriously."

Ashley paused, taking a glance as they were climbing back up the short hill to the monorail station. "Let's call 'em husks for now - makes sense and its quick. Anyone got a better name?" No one answered. "Alright, let's move." It did not take them long to reach the top of the hill.

"More!" Jenkins warned as they saw what was in the monorail station.

"Oh for God's sake where are all these hostiles coming from?" Ashley swore angrily, looking down at the monorail station. Some of the creatures had arrived at the scene and she could see several more of those husk creatures milling around, ignoring the creatures. They would need to retake the station before they could leave.

"Okay, Jenkins, stay up here on the ridge and pick off targets. Shepard, keep those husks from closing in! Taylor, work with Alenko and see about moving some of those crates with biotics! Nihlus, do your thing! Let's go!"

She received a chorus of affirmatives and they moved down the hill once again. The creatures opened fire with their weird off-white projectiles, impacting around them or being deflected by their kinetic barriers. Jacob and Kaidan worked together, lifting a large crate near the station before hurling it towards the aliens at the stairs. The two aliens looked up in what was hopefully horror and began to run away before the crate came down on them.

"Go go go!" Ashley ordered as she, Shepard, and Nihlus hurried across the field. Nihlus activated his jet boots and leapt over the wall of the monorail station's elevated platform while Ashley and Shepard stormed up the stairs when the crate Jacob and Kaidan had hurled burst open and Ashley barely skidded to a halt in time when she saw what was in front of her. An advanced geth trooper with a white color scheme.

With a shotgun.

The next thing she knew she was flying over the railing behind her, hitting the ground and her entire view became a blurry haze as her body was blistering in pain from landing on her backside. She groped for her rifle as she lay there, rifles blazing away and Jenkins's sniper rifle taking out a geth above.

Ashley finally found her rifle and her vision was clearing as her armor's onboard system began applying medi-gel. Her vision was slowly clearing she gripped her rifle and pushed herself up against the wall and slowly stood, vision coming back in spite of the pain. _Ignore it,_ she told herself as the adrenaline began to take over and she forced herself through the injury. She refused to glance down and pushed up the stairs as Shepard and Nihlus were engaged with their shotguns, passing by the shattered platform of the geth that had almost killed her.

A husk leapt onto Nihlus and began tackling him, but the turian wrestled it off and threw it to the ground, stomping on the head as the aliens still in the play were shooting at him and dropped his kinetic barrier. "Shields out!" Nihlus warned as he dropped into cover.

"I'll cover you!" Ashley answered as she saw the aliens ahead firing at him and opened fire herself, suppressing them while Shepard hurled a biotic attack at another one, which failed to connect.

"What the-?" Shepard asked in confusion as she dropped back into cover while another of the aliens stepped forward, glowing blue with biotics.

"They've got a biotic, look-" Ashley did not finish the warning as she suddenly felt herself being launched up and found herself hurtling into the air. Kaidan and Jacob had managed to close in and all three biotics on the two teams set to work. Shepard and Jacob both used biotic attacks on the alien biotic, forcing it to respond to those with its own barrier while Ashley felt the mass effect fields around her dissipating and another pulling her down. She was stopped from slamming to the floor as she saw Kaidan pulling her behind cover.

"Thanks," she said as she landed on the ground and caught her breath. Kaidan did not answer, instead wincing in pain and putting a hand on his head. She frowned.

"Kaidan are-"

"I'll be fine," he quickly answered, "just get that biotic!"

She nodded as Nihlus had rejoined the fight with his shields back up, leaping towards the enemy troopers in cover as a sniper round whizzed into the distracted enemy biotic, knocking out its barrier which Shepard and Ashley proceeded to exploit, shotgun bursts and assault rifle rounds streaming into it and spilling the alien's blood on the sheet metal floor. Jacob and Nihlus meanwhile finished off the rest of the aliens and calls of 'Clear!' began to echo through the area. Ashley slumped against the pillar she had found herself behind as she began to take in the fact at how badly she had been hurt and Kaidan's omni-tool began to glow.

"Everyone okay?" Ashley asked into her headset as Kaidan administered medigel for her wounds. After receiving a chorus of affirmatives she forced herself to look down where she had been hit, her Onyx armor scorched and she was sure there was a bit of red there. "How bad is it, doc?"

"Damn it Ash, I am a medic, not a doctor!" Kaidan responded, before grinning like a schoolboy. "Not bad, minor burn from the mass rounds, I think that geth was using incendiary ammo. Failed to detonate properly, your K-barriers and armor took care of them."

"Good, I didn't plan on burning to death." Ashley said as Kaidan finished his work, feeling better even with the adrenaline slowly ebbing down. "Alright, Team Two, check the train for us. Team One, let's check that control tower."

"No need, it's busted." A voice came from behind a stack of crates, leading everyone to raise their weapons at them, "Don't shoot, I'm not one of them! I'm human!" A nervous man rose from behind the crates, his arms raised and eyes darting between an array of weapons aimed at him.

"Sneaking like that almost got you killed." Shepard noted, not lowering her shotgun until Ashley gestured for her to.

"Who are you?" Ashley asked, putting her weapon away and gesturing for Team Two to continue to their objective.

"Powell. I am a worker around here." The man explained sheepishly.

"How did you survive?" Nihlus asked him next, staring him down.

"Sometimes, I... I need some extra winks to get by my work. So I sneak behind some crates."

"You survived because you were lazy?" Ashley asked incredulously, "I can't believe this..." She shook her head before turning back to Powell, "What do you mean control tower is busted?"

"There was a turian here. Grey one unlike your friend here." Powell said, nodding at Nihlus, "I heard him talk to some humans earlier and came here to see him. Once I got here, I saw him talking to those machines. Told them to mess up the tower once he took it and sabotage the second one."

"Impossible. The only other turian we know of is Saren and he would not ally with the geth. This is not his method of operation." Nihlus said, but Ashley reached for her comm unit.

"Team Two, report."

"_Team Two here, go ahead."_ Kaidan's voice answered.

"Be careful with the train, we got an unconfirmed report that it might be sabotaged."

"_Hmm... Give me a second."_ There was a few noises from the other end of the line, before Jenkins voice muttered something. Kaidan returned to the line. _"You're right. Whole control scheme is busted. At best, this thing would keep accelerating until it would derail. Killing us with it."_

"Understood. Check the local garage, these places usually have some other means of travel. With luck, they might have a truck or something."

"_Will do, Commander."_

"Well, there goes our ride." Shepard noted in annoyance. "You guys have anything else?"

"Stations usually have some secondary means to get around. Rails might need maintenance, for example. With luck, the geth missed those." Ashley answered before looking back at Powell, who merely nodded, "Anything else you can tell us?"

"Nothing really. I have been hiding most of the time." Powell admitted, looking back at the crates.

"What about the beacon?" Ashley pressed.

"Oh, that thing?" Powell said, "It was moved to the starport earlier this morning. Big thing. Should still be there."

"Alright, you heard the man. Let's head to the garage and hope we can catch a ride from there." Ashley said, before turning to Powell, "Research site is clear and there are few survivors holed up there. You can try to head back there or keep hiding here. Your choice."

"I think I'll just go back to my hole." Powell said, before climbing over several crates and disappearing from their view. The team began to move towards the maintenance garage.

"Was it wise to let him go?" Shepard questioned, looking back, "He might attract more geth."

"He would have slowed us down. Our goal is secure the beacon." Nihlus explained.

"As much as I hate leaving behind civilians, well, he has survived this far and we have reduced the geth and bug population of this area considerably." Ashley concurred, with a nod.

"Bugs?" Shepard asked.

"Well, they look like bugs." Ashley answered, "But I have no idea if they are real bugs or just look like them."

"They do remind me of some critters back at Palaven. A lot bigger and only two legs, though. Also missing a pair of eyes." Nihlus commented.

"Never been fan of bugs..." Shepard grumbled as they reached the garage and found Jenkins sitting on the top of what looked to Ashley like an old M29 Grizzly, painted brown instead.

"Check it out!" Jenkins said with a grin. "A VT7. Perfect for getting us over to the starport. And hey, check this out." He moved slightly and opened the hatch where normally a turret would be… revealing a smaller autogun instead of the normal heavy turret on an M29 that popped out and could be manned. "They modified them with these in case of varren attacks ever since that cargo ship of 'em got loose. Civilian grade, but they pack a punch."

Ashley smiled. "Perfect. Alenko, you drive and Taylor, I want you on the gun. If you see a geth or alien, blast 'em." She paused, glancing at Nihlus. "Well. A non-turian alien."

"Thank you, Commander." Nihlus answered with what Ashley swore was a sense of amusement as they climbed into the vehicle and drove off to the starport.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**End Chapter**

**Authors Notes: **

_This is the first 'real' chapter of the story, and some things should be noted quickly: While we chose to use a similar track to the canon, we refuse to simply rehash the story we all have played through verbatim and just change some window dressing like having Jacob in Ashley's spot. That's not interesting at all and we can do better than that. But taking a similar skeleton and rearranging it in ways that in the end will almost always ultimately tie into the ultimate point of divergence, the batarian slaver raid in 1192 CE, it was hoped to make something interesting. You will see larger divergences as the plot continues to move forward as ultimately we want to make our own story instead of just canon with a few changes._

_As an example of such, Jenkins and Nihlus surviving as long as they have… so far. This comes ultimately down to the fact that there were two other squadmates to back Jenkins up, one of whom is a full on tech character. In the original timeline, Ashley was fighting for her life elsewhere and Nihlus was elsewhere because he was just observing Shepard. But here, due to Shepard being in the SE this time and Ashley being an SA candidate, Nihlus needs to stick with the group as while Ashley and Shepard may be the more reasonable candidates, he needs to keep an eye on things as much as possible. Likewise, it means that Saren could not just plug Nihlus in the back because there's two others flanking him, meaning that if he tried to slip his gun past Nihlus' K-Barriers for an execution headshot, Ashley and Shepard could warn Nihlus and stop it._

_Now, some might also note that we have another group of aliens in Eden Prime and perhaps even recognized who they are. The reason for their involvement is a spoiler, so in words of Casey Hudson: Lots of speculations from everybody!_

_Overall, however, we do hope that you enjoy the story. We also want to thank Relvain Jenafuse, Alec McDowell, Astol, medchtsia, and JackFrost21 on Fanfiction dot net for their reviews. _

_As per each chapter, Codex entries below for your reading. These are on the Empire's Social Contracts (discussed briefly on the _Normandy_ between Ash, Shep, and Kaidan) and Chivalric Orders, one of which Etel Shepard hails from._

**Codex: Social Contracts**

The Star Empire is divided into three classes, Nobles, Aristocrats and Commoners, all which share different types of Social Contracts. Failure to maintain these Social Contracts could cause a person to lose their status. Social Contracts are a core part of the Empire's government, and is considered the method of ensuring that all within know their place in the world and what their task is. While this does not dictate life goals, it does provide a sense of order similar to the Turian Hierarchy's tiers of citizenship, a common comparison used in school texts.

The lowest class, Commoners, provide taxes and service to their land and lord, and in exchange they are granted protection - legal and martial - as well as basic life necessities. For example, a soldier offers his service and all the risk therein, but in exchange gets solid pay, room and board, and health care even after his service ends. A farmer would provide a portion of grown food to the community stores for hard times, but gets land to farm and protection in exchange. A merchant may pay a very high tax compared to his fellows, but in exchange gets land to serve and the security to ply their wares freely in towns or on the road. This social contract works both ways, as while a commoner failing is a breach of contract, the same applies to the nobility failing.

Failure to maintain the contract can result the Commoner facing penalties, such as harsher taxes, imprisonment, or losing their lands. Nobles failing to provide their required necessities or dues to those who rent their land or benefit from their protection run the risk of losing their titles and lands, and a few particularly corrupt noblemen have even been jailed or worse. Any breaches in the Social Contracts are dealt by the Imperial Administration.

**Codex: Codex: Chivalric Orders**

Chivalric Orders are societies formed by Imperial Administration and recognized by the Emperor, the organization responsible to maintaining Faith of Abraham. At the moment, there are twelve recognized orders operating within Citadel space, as well as several self-styled orders who are not officially recognized by the Empire, but still maintain that they are Chivalric Orders, the most well known of these pseudo-orders being the Brothers of Sword and Word. Orders are autonomous, maintaining their own funding, ranks, and military. They are not technically responsible to the Empire, but many of them hold Emperor has the leader of their order, greatest exception being the Knights of the Poor.

Many of the Orders maintain unique armor designs for their members and members are often officially knighted, earning the title of Sir Knight. Most Orders do not venture outside Empire's borders, but a few do and two of them even accept non-humans among their ranks. These two are Brotherhood of Holy Spirit and Hashshashin. Perhaps two most well known orders are Order of Hospitallers, also known as Knight Hospitallers, for their aggressive campaign against slavers, and the Knights of Solomon Temple - also known as the Templars - for their work for the poor and downtrodden as well as military achievements.

The Council has issued that any Order wishing to operate outside of Empire space is to seek a permit from the Council and report any members operating in Citadel Space in order to keep the peace. The Empire also maintains that Orders are not allowed to grow beyond certain size. Despite this, some fear that Orders might grow too powerful for the Emperor to control if not reined in or checked by a strong central military.

Membership in these orders varies. Some only take in nobles, others are open to all who qualify. Some accept non-humans, others hold that their orders were for mankind. The oldest orders tend to be the most exclusive, while newer ones and the unrecognized orders tend to be the most inclusive. However, all Orders share a similar rank structure and while they may use different titles or heraldry, they are all considered part of the Star Empire and are usually considered an auxiliary part of its fighting forces. Yet it must be remembered that military actions is not the only goal of these orders, with the Mutazili being significant for its interest in science and theology over taking up arms.


	3. Priority: Eden Prime - Starport

A VT7 might not have been as well armored as its military variant, but it was infinitely more comfortable, with actual room to stretch one's legs and a working suspension. With Kaidan driving the vehicle, the group was following the monorail. Thankfully, the geth had not paid attention to the monorail itself and there were very few obstructions, mainly rocks and other uneven terrain features.

"Huh. I can see why you people chose to call this place Eden," Shepard said, looking around the non-shelled area and seeing the Eden Prime's natural look.

"It's a beautiful place. Quiet too, unless being targeted by machines from the unknown," Jenkins chimed, sitting next to Kaidan. Normally the seat was reserved for the tech specialist, but Ashley was not sure what the seat was for in the civilian variant. Besides, Jenkins knew the area; having him up front where he could see would help.

"Geth haven't been seen beyond the veil for 200 years, why would they suddenly target a colony like this? Aside from the beacon," Ashley wondered aloud before glancing at Shepard. "How much experience does the Empire have with the geth?"

"None. I mean, there was one time when the Emperor, let me think..." Shepard stopped for a moment to go over the well known Emperors mentally, "I think it was Barbossa the First who wanted to try to talk with them. Sent a small, unarmed delegate ship to contact them. Never heard from them again. That's the extent of our interaction with them."

"The geth shoot anyone trying to enter the Veil," Nihlus elaborated, nodding his head, "The Citadel tried to contact them few times after the Geth War, but nothing came out of it. They are very isolationist. Nobody really knows what they have been doing there."

"So, not only did they break two hundred years of silence, they somehow bypassed the Star Empire and Batarian Hegemony, and attacked a colony far away from their territories to get some recently dug up Prothean beacon," Ashley summed up, "Something does not add up here..."

"A lot of things don't add up," Kaidan said from the driver's seat.

"But this one particularly. Seems excessive action take for a single beacon," Ashley countered, "I mean, I get that it could propel one's technological advances a lot, but to go to these lengths? Impaling people, turning them into these husks?" Nihlus nodded at the term.

"Details of the Geth War are scarce, but I can safely say that these husks are something new." Nihlus added, before turning to Jacob, "Anything out there?"

"Still quiet. Nothing, apart from few gasbags."

"They're harmless. Just float around. I heard someone say they're actually floating plants, rather than animals," Jenkins explained. "Apparently they are capable of prot... photon... photosynthesis," Jenkins stumbled over the word.

"Fall asleep in chem?" Kaidan teased.

"Hey, you don't need a college degree to shoot bad guys. Especially…" Jenkins paused as he glanced towards the starport in the distance and instantly deflated. "Especially if they're attacking your home."

"Your family nearby?" Shepard asked.

"Nah, we're a good couple hours out from the starport, but still… you saw all that AA in the distance."

"We'll check on them once we're done here," Ashley added. "But until the area's secure, keep your focus."

"Yes ma'am."

The rest of the trip was largely travelled in silence. The group checked their weapons and equipment as they neared the starport. Ashley and Shepard also raided the onboard first aid kit to replenish the medigel supplies they had.

"Keep your eyes open, who knows what is waiting for us at the starport," Ashley ordered, earning a nod from Jacob. Ashley moved to side, popping open a hatch and peering out. She reached for binoculars and looked by the starport. She saw several geth and aliens fussing over something.

"Nihlus, can you see what those are?" She asked, giving Nihlus some room and letting him to take a look.

"Shit, those are nukes," he said, with a turian version of grimace on his face.

"WHAT!?" Jenkins exclaimed, turning around in shock in the middle of drawing his assault rifle.

"I think I can see the beacon too. Big tower looking thing."

"Yeah, that sounds like the beacon," Jacob confirmed.

"I can see several geth around it. Most likely preparing to take it with them," Nihlus reported and came down, closing the hatch behind him.

"God damn it," Ashley cursed. "We can't just let them take the beacon, but we can't ignore those nukes," she weighed her options. "Kaidan, how good is your tech?"

"I think I could deal with them, but no promises," Kaidan said, shaking his head.

"Damn it. Nihlus?"

"I'm certain that I could disarm them," the turian confirmed.

"Okay, Nihlus, you go with Team Two. Let's see..." Ashley looked between Jenkins and Jacob, before nodding, "Alenko, you're with us, we might need the tech support. Taylor, you and Jenkins cover Nihlus while he disarms the bombs. Once you are done with them, come and support us. Our job is to secure the beacon, or at least slow them long enough for you to reinforce us," a round of confirmations rang out. "Alright people, sync up your hard suits. Last dance of the day. Let's make it count."

"Last dance. Not ominous at all…" Jacob muttered under his breath as Ashley's helmet display adjusted to the new squad arrangements.

XXXXXXXXX

Nihlus looked down at his omni-tool's scanner and nodded as Team One was moving out, also noting the sync up with the two marines' hardsuit data and his omni-tool. "We've got four bombs, and based on the readings we have t-minus five minutes before this place blows!"

"Shit, we gotta move!" Jenkins shouted as the three moved up the ramp. Pulse fire began to rain down almost immediately as geth infantry came out from nearby crates and from behind pillars. "Geth ahead! Troopers and- watch out, rocket launcher!"

Nihlus used his jet boots to side step out of the way of a rocket launched his way while the two Alliance soldiers ducked into cover - Jenkins behind a crate and Jacob behind a pillar. Raising his omni-tool, Nihlus overloaded the geth's rocket trooper, which Jacob then pulled towards them with his biotics while Jenkins suppressed the other geth with his rifle.

"First bomb is just to the left!" Nihlus shouted as he took cover next to Jenkins, rising out of cover and blasting the geth rocket trooper with his shotgun. "Keep those geth down while I disable it!"

"Yes sir!" Jenkins shouted as the two leapt over the crate and Jacob rushed forward from behind the pillar, both marines firing at the geth that were coming in as Nihlus knelt next to the first bomb. _Crude, but effective,_ he thought as he began hacking it, adjusting his hacking algorithms to compensate for the firewalls blocking it. The nuclear device beeped ten seconds later and shut down. Nihlus removed the core and then shot it with his shotgun, ruining the device.

"Device disabled!" he shouted as he turned to see the fight. Jacob and Jenkins had managed to push the geth guards back, but there was another wave coming at the next bomb and two white plated geth dropped in from above. "Shock Troopers!" Nihlus warned as he saw them. Jacob looked up in time, catching one of the dropping geth with a biotic field and pulling it towards them. The geth bounced over Jenkins and landed behind him as he had taken cover behind another crate further up and kicked it over the edge, sending it plummeting into the space that split the main section of the spaceport.

Jenkins rose to fire again when a sniper round caught his shoulder and knocked him backwards. Nihlus ducked into cover, checking his scanner and finding a geth signature far enough away and in the right direction to match where Jenkins had fallen.

"Jenkins!" Jacob shouted, sprinting over to where the wounded marine was and dragging him behind cover.

"Taylor, geth sniper ahead behind the crate stack three high, thirty degrees to the left. I've got Jenkins."

Jacob paused, then nodded, pulling the geth sniper as it rose to fire again with biotics and launching it into the open while Nihlus applied an emergency medi-gel injection into Jenkins' armor, along with some Spectre issue stimulants.

"Whoa," Jenkins muttered as he found himself moving in mere seconds. "What was-"

"Spectre gear," Nihlus answered quickly as Jacob blasted another geth with his shotgun. "Now get in there - the next bomb is right behind the next pillar!"

Jenkins looked in that direction and nodded. Jacob leapt over the crates they were behind and Jenkins followed, suppressing the geth again with their firepower as Nihlus took out the geth shock trooper with a shotgun blast that knocked its arms off, then ran over to the next bomb and disarmed it. As he finished, he saw the geth had regrouped again and were throwing more troopers into the fray.

Nihlus looked at the geth with a yellow paint job and launched a disc from his omni-tool into it, hitting it in the flashlight 'eye', and the geth proceeded to attempt to burn out the nearby platforms as the two marines continued to spray fire down, catching the geth with their barriers down as the flamethrower wielding one reset from the system hack.

"Damn, are these geth crazy?!" Jenkins shouted, "They're gonna fucking die if they stay here!"

"Geth are machines," Nihlus chided as he hurled a high explosive grenade into the mix of geth, blowing the group into the air for Jacob to pull with biotics, slamming them into the ground, or for Jenkins to shoot. While young and definitely in need of experience, Nihlus had to admit that the kid had potential as they moved to the next bomb. "It is likely they can upload themselves out of the blast radius to another server-" he was now next to the bomb and activated his omni-tool. "Cover me, we've got two minutes left!"

"You heard him!" Jacob ordered, "This spot's exposed!"

Several rounds bounced off of Nihlus' kinetic barrier before he could finish disarming the bomb, and his barrier broke as he finished.

"Nihlus is taking fire!" Jacob warned, the marine likely getting the update from his heads up display.

"Damn it!" he cursed as the disarming process succeeded and he hurled himself to a prone position to let his shields recharge. "Taylor, how many?"

The marine grunted as his kinetic barrier broke and he replaced it with a biotic version. "Half dozen of the troopers, but I saw something big entering the other side of the starport before it got obscured by the flooring! Big and slow!"

"Copy. One more push, one bomb left!" Nihlus ordered. His readout read that they only had a minute and a half left.

"Get the fuck off my homeworld you stupid terminators!" Jenkins shouted as they sprang out of cover one last time. Nihlus took point, launching into the geth with his jet boots and grabbing the nearest one, electricity charged through his omni-tool and shocking the geth he grappled before he flung it into two troopers nearby. The two had tried to fire on him, but instead shot up the trooper hurled into them. Jacob grabbed another of the geth with biotics and flung it into the others which Jenkins began to lay into with his rifle.

"Last one, we'll cover you!" Jacob shouted as he used his biotics to shove a crate in front of Nihlus to obscure him from the geth coming up the other side of the spaceport. Nihlus only needed a brief glimpse to see it was a significant wave as he started disarming it.

"Holy shit!" Jenkins shouted, "What the hell is _that?!_"

Nihlus tried to put aside the fear he heard in the marine's voice, but found himself propelled into the wall on his right before he fully processed what had happened, slamming into it. His head began to ache immediately from hitting it. Shaking it off, he glanced out to see a three and a half meter tall geth marching in with what looked like a heavy pulse cannon. "Oh Spirits…" Nihlus muttered as he hit his omni-tool. "Saren, where are you? Saren, come in!" static answered him. "Commander Williams, do you copy?" more static.

"Jamming?!" Jacob shouted in horror.

"Must be," Nihlus answered as he attempted to overload the new geth - which he finally recognized as a Prime-class unit and thus able to jam communications, as well as being a command and control platform that was reportedly able to improve the efficiency of nearby geth. "We don't have time to be fancy, just keep it out of the fight! Take down the shields now!"

Jenkins threw down his overheated assault rifle, grabbing his sniper rifle and firing it into the geth prime before ducking down as it fired a pulse round at them in return, which blew the top crate in the stack behind them off. Jacob had also overheated his shotgun blasting at it and was using his biotics on a nearby geth trooper and hurled it at the prime, the trooper simply bouncing off the geth's kinetic barriers as Nihlus hurled another grenade at it, again shrugged off but obliterated the smaller geth.

"We don't have time for this!" Jenkins shouted as he dropped his overheated shotgun and started overheating his pistol into the large geth.

_He's right,_ Nihlus noted as he noticed the nuke itself. "Taylor, throw a crate at the geth! Jenkins, take my shotgun and keep shooting!" he tossed the gun to the human, who caught it and began blasting away while Jacob - grunting under the strain from his heavy use of biotics - hurled the crate at the geth as Nihlus threw himself next to the bomb and jammed his omni-tool into it, running on instinct as he plugged his program in.

The device beeped and Nihlus let out a sigh of relief as the last nuke disarmed. Then found himself flying backwards as the leading geth hit the ground next to him him with his pulse cannon. Nihlus hit the ground near where the third bomb had been with a rough landing, skidding along the surface. Nihlus groaned in pain as he came around, his armor applying an emergency overdose of medi-gel as it picked up the drop in his vital signs and armor mounted stimulants began injecting into his body, overclocking his normal biological limitations to keep him active. He knew he was going to regret this once he got back on the_ Normandy_, but he had to keep fighting as his shields were recharging from being depleted protecting him from that pulse blast.

He grabbed his pistol and used his jet boots to leap over the crates as he found Jenkins and Jacob hiding behind a pillar, panting and looking worn. Nihlus landed behind the crates nearby and glanced to them. "What's the status on that Prime?" he shouted over.

"Its shields are down but we can't punch through its armor!" Jacob warned. "I can't warp it either - my amp's fried!"

Nihlus cursed silently as he considered other options. Primes would have too much processing power for his omni-tool's overrides and that armor would limit the effectiveness of his other tech attacks. "Any of you have incendiary ammo? Or maybe tungsten?"

"What does yours fire?" Jenkins asked as he looked down at the shotgun as a pulse blast vaporized a wrecked crate near Nihlus, "Blew over those troopers nicely."

"Sledgehammer. Not going to punch past geth armor."

"I got the hot stuff," Jacob said as he held his shotgun, "but I'm not sure I have enough to burn that armor - this thing's battered," the prime fired another pulse blast, blowing away a chunk of the pillar that the two humans were hiding behind as Jenkins crouched.

"Okay then, new plan," Nihlus ordered. "Me and Jenkins draw its attention, you get in close. Jenkins, stay on this side, I'll boost to the other side and harass it from there."

"Okay, got it," Jenkins said with a nod, clearly rattled. "Uh, you need a rifle?"

"I'll be fine," he answered, though he was beginning to wish his assault rifle was not being repaired after he broke it smashing in a krogan's skull desperately in his last mission. "On my mark. Three, two, one… MARK!"

Nihlus leapt away with his jet boots, crossing the gap and the geth prime was tracing him, a pulse blast hitting a bridge behind them and leaving a gap in it. Nihlus landed and opened fire with his pistol, hitting the geth and leaving pockmarks in its armor. As it turned, he sprinted down the pathway as a pulse round trailed him. Jenkins and Jacob had closed in on their side and were blasting away, knocking an antenna off the prime's back.

Nihlus' headset immediately came to life. _"Shit!"_ Jenkins was shouting in the radio as a pulse blast hit the crate nearby. _"Shit shit shit, Taylor just got knocked out!"_ taking cover behind a stack of crates, Nihlus checked his omni-tool and saw that Jacob's hardsuit reported he was alive, but injured.

"Stay calm, I will flank the geth and get its attention, then you blast it with the incendiaries in Taylor's shotgun!"

"_We need to pull back, get the others to help!"_ Jenkins shouted in a panic. _"This thing's too much for us!"_ a pulse blast echoed it as Jenkins dove away from where he had been taking cover.

Nihlus looked over the spaceport and shook his head. "Corporal, this geth can take on any squad that the local garrison can throw at it. Do you want this thing running around?" He opened fire at the geth again and launched another tech disc to try and overload it. The disc missed, but the shots got its attention and he dove to the side to avoid another pulse blast sent his way.

"_No but-"_

"If that thing runs around and stays behind after the geth leave and gets missed by mop up, what happens if it runs into civilians? If it runs into your family?"

"_I…"_ Jenkins clearly was shaken, but Nihlus heard a sharp inhale from the young soldier as a pulse round blasted into the crate over him and rained metallic pieces and packaging foam around him that bled into his kinetic barrier. _"Okay, let me know when, I grabbed the shotgun."_

Nihlus nodded, checking his omni-tool and the melee attack program he had installed into it. _A useless weapon, the omni-blade,_ he mused as he considered conventional wisdom. _But in the right circumstances…_ he sprinted towards the open space and leapt into the gap between the two sides of the spaceport, activating his jet boots to cross it again as the geth fired at him. The pulse round went wide but skirted his kinetic barriers, the impact dropping half of his shields and knocking him off course to the right - but he still landed and had its attention. He launched another tech disc, shocking the geth's systems before he unloaded into it with his pistol, leaping to the side with his jet boots as it retaliated with another pulse blast from its cannon.

Jenkins sprang into action from a crate behind it, blasting into the geth's back and from the clanging metal and the burning chunks that blew off, the repeated strikes had found their way into a weak spot and broke it. The geth howled with the strange synthetic screech the geth used for verbal communication as white fluid sprayed out of it. The geth turned around, smashing Jenkins from below with its pulse cannon and knocking the marine several meters back.

Nihlus leapt at the prime, using his jet boots to get the height advantage he needed and gripped one of the upper tubes on the geth's back with an active omni-tool in his other hand.

Omni-tools… such a ubiquitous device in the galaxy. In the hands of most, it was a communicator, scanner, flashlight, and mini computer. In the hands of soldiers, it was used in the applications of combat stimulants and after Sirta Foundation released it to the galaxy, as a way to apply first aid by medi-gel. In the hands of engineers or other tech specialists like himself, it could be used to flash manufacture small discs to carry various attack programs to their targets.

But there was another function as old as the device itself, one underused and considered a desperate or foolish man's weapon by most, for when an asari wanted to cut a tag she forgot to remove from her new dress . Nihlus' omni-tool had flash forged a silicon-carbide monomolecular blade, held in place by mass effect fields generated by the device itself, illuminated with an orange warning light, and laced with electric energy similar to that used in his overload discs. Nihlus shoved the blade into the geth prime itself and wrestled with it, moving the blade to do as much damage as he could as the geth howled again and thrashed around, Nihlus pulling the blade out and stabbing again, and again, and again. And he kept stabbing until he found himself flung off as the geth dropped its pulse weapon and reached behind him, grabbing him by the arm he was using to hold onto it and yanking him off.

Nihlus hit the spaceport flooring with a thud that shook his bones and skidded over the edge, barely managing to grab the edge as the geth marched towards him, now sporting a sizable hole in its chest that had almost gone all the way through, chattering away in the strange, clicky language that the geth spoke when one more blast came from behind - illuminated orange and searing the geth's internals. The geth prime suddenly powered down and collapsed forward, white conductive fluids still spilling from it and staining Nihlus' armor.

"Whoa!" Nihlus shouted as he quickly flung himself around as the geth fell where he had been and felt his fingers slipping when a hand grabbed him before he fell and pulled him back over. Finding himself face down on the starport's metal flooring - an uncomfortably familiar sight to him now - he looked up and saw Jenkins, bleeding heavily and slumped against the ground with all three shotguns lying next to him. Nihlus forced himself to ignore the pain and pulled himself up, kneeling next to the wounded human.

"Y… you did it…" Jenkins said weakly. Nihlus pulled out his omni-tool and scanned; he was bleeding out badly.

"No, we did. You finished it off, and Taylor weakened it," he glanced up at the other human soldier who was still unconscious but alive and stable based on his hardsuit's transponder data. Nihlus looked down at Jenkins again and activated his omni-tool. "Here, this should keep you stable until…"

Nihlus' head jerked as a loud voice echoed from his transmitter. _"Spectre Kryik, do you read?! I repeat, Nihlus Kyrik come in!"_

"Loud but not wholly clear, Captain," Nihlus answered though the hear static underlying the entire transmission.

"_Sorry, but we lost contact when you entered the starport. The enemy forces are pulling back - whatever you did must have broken their command and control. Rear Admiral Michalovich is arriving with his fleet units and the enemy is pulling out."_

"Good. Can you get a medevac to the spaceport? Jenkins is injured badly and so's another Alliance soldier we picked up," Jenkins fell unconscious. _Damn it, need a medic here!_ "Team One, come in!" static. "Anderson?"

"_We're coming into the starport but we can't raise them either. Something about the beacon is disrupting their helmet radios. We can barely read you."_

Nihlus paused as he looked down at Jenkins again who was stabilizing thanks to the medi-gel when he heard a loud bang and a flash of light.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Take care and call us the moment you are done," Ashley said as they disembarked from the vehicle. Nihlus nodded and gestured his team to follow him, while Ashley gestured for Kaidan and Shepard to follow her.

Rushing up the stairs the team immediately met a group of aliens milling around. Shepard and Kaidan quickly lifted two of the into the air, shooting while running for the cover while Ashley opened fire with her shotgun, causing the third to stagger and finally fall down after a second hit. The other aliens noticed the commotion and immediately took cover. To her dismay, Ashley noticed that the aliens had husks in their ranks, running straight forward for them.

"Shepard! Take down the husks!" she shouted.

"Affirmative!" Shepard responded, throwing the husks with her biotics and opening fire with her shotgun. Ashley switched back to her assault rifle and began to fire at the aliens hiding behind walls. Kaidan pulled another alien out of its cover biotically.

Ashley herself threw a grenade at one alien, who had the bad timing of popping out of it's cover just as the grenade landed on its feet. The grenade detonated and the alien fell to the ground with its legs blown off. Ashley gestured for Kaidan and Shepard to move forward, while she began to fire widely to provide covering fire.

"Shields down!" Kaidan shouted as he dove for cover further up. Shepard picked a fuel canister that was laying around with her biotics and threw it at the aliens. It hit one alien in the face and skidded into cover of another. Ashley took aim and fired at the canister, causing it to explode and force the aliens out of their cover, into open where concentrated fire brought them down quickly.

"Wounds?" Ashley asked quickly.

"No," Shepard answered, moving forward with her weapon raised.

"No and the K-barrier is back up," Kaidan said. Ashley nodded and followed Shepard, with Kaidan falling behind her.

"Wait, this way," Ashley said, gesturing down a ramp that she saw to lead to a loading platform. Shepard turned around and followed her, with the group coming down to a platform and seeing the beacon at the other end of it.

"Nihlus, come in. We got visual on the beacon," Ashley said to her com-set. However, there was no response. "Nihlus, come in," still nothing. "Team Two, report."

"Jamming?" Kaidan asked.

"I don't know," Ashley switched the channels. "Anderson, this is Williams. We got visual on the beacon."

"_Wil-ams, go-sta-ing our s-us?"_ came the heavily distorted voice of Anderson, punctuated by bursts of static.

"Sir, I can't hear you, say again?" Ashley asked.

"_Secu-Be-fleet-two-"_ Anderson's voice responded before cutting off completely. Several aliens flew up to the platform, between the team and the beacon.

"Take cover!" Ashley shouted and the group moved to whatever cover they could find,while the aliens opened fire.

"That one at the back looks different!" Shepard shouted. Ashley peeked over, her K-barrier flashing from several hits but she managed to see a grey colored alien at the back of the group before she pulled back. The alien glowed for a moment, before releasing a biotic blast at Kaidan, who run out of his cover and instantly attracted the attention of the aliens.

Ashley turned around and opened fire at one of the aliens, breaking its barrier - much to her surprise it was biotically based - and making it scramble for cover. Shepard grabbed it in a biotic field and threw it at the others. The grey alien then turned its attention to Shepard and threw another biotic blast, hitting her and causing her to skid across the platform.

Ashley threw a grenade at the creature and checked Shepard's status from the HUD, thankful that the group had decided to synchronize them during their trip. Shepard was alive and was starting to stir, but she was going to feel that later.

"That grey one must be some sort of commander," Kaidan said, "Those aliens are moving too unified! Its like some sort of hive mind!"

Ashley had to agree, the aliens were moving like they were a single entity with bodies merely being extension of its will. The alien Ashley and Shepard had attacked was still down and other one was bleeding from the shrapnel, but the grey one was still looking unharmed.

"Kaidan! Can you pull off those fuel tanks?" Ashley shouted, pointing at tanks used to store fuel for the shuttles. Kaidan looked for a moment, before the tanks began to glow from biotic grip. There was a groan, but the tanks didn't move. Then, a second field grabbed it and Ashley saw that Shepard was also glowing from biotic usage. Another groan and the tank fell on the aliens. Most of them got out of the way in time, but two of them were flattened underneath the structure.

Ashley fired several rounds into the tank, but nothing happened. In desperation, she threw a grenade, causing a hole to appear at the side of the tank, revealing it to be empty.

"Out of all possible fuel tanks, why did that have to be empty!?" she cursed.

"Be thankful it was empty, the explosion would have taken us and the beacon too!" Kaidan shouted back. Ashley bit back her reply, knowing Kaidan was right. Still, it was two less aliens to deal with.

"Damn it, we can't stay here, we're too exposed!" Ashley shouted as she jumped to being another crate again as the grey alien threw another biotic blast that warped a crate behind them.

"Cover me, I am about to do something stupid," Shepard said, standing up. Ashley looked at Shepard dumbly for a moment, who began to glow with biotic power, then floated in the air and disappeared in a blur. Ashley looked around and saw that Shepard had appeared in middle of the aliens, hitting one of them as she landed before moving to shoot another.

"She threw herself?" Kaidan asked in shock, "Nobody throws themselves!"

"You crazy imp," Ashley muttered, opening fire at the disoriented aliens and moving forward. Kaidan was following her, floating one alien into the air and throwing another at the wall. Shepard, meanwhile, was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the grey alien. A blade had come out of her omni-tool and she was trying to cut through the alien's own blade as the two locked melee weapons.

There was a distinct scream and Ashley turned just in time to open fire at several husks that ran out of a door leading to a tool shed. These husks, just like the aliens before, were moving in much more coordinated manner, waving and popping around cover rather than running straight forward.

"Support Shepard! I'll take care of the husks!" Ashley shouted, switching to her shotgun and blasting one husk in the chest, sending it flying backwards. The other one tried to grab her, but she hit it in the face with the shotgun's stock and then fired. She kept backing away from the husks, who were being much more careful now.

One thing that caught her eye, however, was the fact that these husk had an Alliance armor patterns on them._ Intact_ Alliance armor, with no signs of battle damage that she was not inflicting herself. However, their heads had large wounds in them, exposing more cybernetics than any other husk they had met so far. Their armor made them somewhat more difficult to kill, but thankfully their kinetic barriers were not active.

Then she noticed a plasma container next her feet and smiled. A kick and the canister was rolling towards the husks. She fired, missing twice but hitting the third time causing the canister to explode and release burning plasma all over the husks.

Still, two of them were alive and had apparently abandoned all sort of tactical approach and were merely running for her. She quickly gunned them down, turning towards the grey alien. The alien was currently pushing a crate that was laying on top of it. Shepard was once again laying on the floor, holding her head and shaking it, with Kaidan pulling her into cover and administering medi-gel. She ran to them and knelt next to them.

"What happened?" she asked as she looked at the two.

"Damn thing is tough. Usually when you stab someone they die," Shepard muttered, looking down at her arm, where her armor had bended like steel in a factory. "Busted my omni-tool, so there goes my blade. Not that I am looking to get into melee with that thing again."

"I'm out of medi-gel and my amp nearly fritzed. Managed to throw that box on it, though," Kaidan added, giving the last set of medi-gel to Shepard. Ashley checked her belt.

"Alright, I got one last grenade. Split up and keep firing. Sooner or later that barrier it has to go down," Ashley said, earning a nod from Shepard and Kaidan. She then switched back to her assault rifle and braced herself, counting down silently. She darted out of cover, running to the opposite end and opening fire. The alien quickly wheeled around and opened fire with its weapon, causing Ashleys K-barrier to flash before collapsing completely.

At that moment, Kaidan appeared and opened fire with his rifle. Since he was not running at the moment, he had much better aim and the aliens barrier flashed from the numerous hits. Ashley scampered for cover and threw her last grenade at the alien. A loud bang told her she had hit the alien. She peered out and opened fire, just as Shepard skidded into cover behind another crate and opened fire. With three of them firing at the alien, its barrier flashed again and again before finally collapsed. Shepard glowed for a moment and the alien was lifted in the air and thrown over the rails, unable to stop the mass effect fields with no biotic barrier.

"That drop should kill it," Shepard said, before there was a buzzing sound and the alien flew back up and landed on its feet. "Oh, right. Wings," Shepard said with disappointment in her voice. She dove behind another crate as she grunted and put a hand on the back of her neck, "Well, there went my biotics for rest of the day, going to need a nap once this is over and a lot of painkillers for the headache!"

"Right, let's do this old fashioned way then. Everyone, open fire!" Ashley told back, all three popping out of their cover and firing at the alien. When Kaidan's rifle overheated first, with him switching to a pistol, followed by Shepard who switched to her shogun. Ashleys rifle overheated last and she too switched to shotgun, firing as fast the weapon allowed. Eventually, she had to switch to her sniper rifle and finally her pistol.

"Cease fire," she said finally as her pistol began to beep angrily at her as it was overheated, looking at the alien, whose chest and legs more or less resembled swiss cheese and pasta sauce mangled together in a pile, "I think it's dead."

"Tough bastard," Shepard cursed, "That was all we got and we only got half-way into it's chest."

"Well, in my medical opinion, unless you are synthetic, missing half of your chest will keep you dead," Kaidan quipped as his pistol cooled down again.

"Let's not take chances," Ashley said, walking to the alien and putting several rounds into it's head with her cooling sidearm before glancing towards their objective. "Well, let's take a look at our prize."

The team walked to the beacon, which was shimmering with an eerie glow.

"Is it supposed to do that?" Ashley asked curiously as she tilted her head towards it.

"I have no idea. I wreck stuff, not study it. That's the Mutzali's job," Shepard said with a shrug.

"Anderson, the beacon is secure. Do you copy?" static answered her question. "Well, I guess we just have to wait and hope that Nihlus and others manage to disarm those bombs."

"Alright. I'll check if there is any medi-gel around," Kaidan said, turning to walk to the first-aid closet by the wall.

Ashley looked over the beacon, trying to discern what it was doing. She took few steps forward, when the beacon flared to life and she felt something start to drag her towards it. Nothing visible was pulling her. No hands, no visible mass effect fields, just an invisible force dragging her towards it like a damsel in a horror flick. She tried to fight it, straining as she tried to move backwards with her feet, but to no avail and her feet remained rooted to the ground and sliding towards the ancient device.

"COMMANDER!" Kaidan shouted, trying to create his own mass effect fields with biotics but failing to do so. Shepard attempted to do so as well, failing and looking around for anything to use. Finally, she ran towards Ashley and grabbed her, throwing her away from the beacon.

"Shepard! Look out!" Ashley shouted as she skidded to stop on her back, the beacon pulling Shepard towards it. Suddenly, Shepard was floating in the air, facing the beacon, her face twisted in grimace. Ashley tried to run to help her, but Kaidan was holding her back.

"No, don't touch her! It's too dangerous!" Kaidan shouted, holding her by the waist as the ancient device had its way with the Knight Hospitaller.

Suddenly, the beacon exploded, dropping Shepard to the ground and launching her backwards several meters.

"Kaidan! Check her vitals!" Ashley shouted. Kaidan ran to Shepard and began running his omni-tool over her.

"Alive, but knocked out. Lots of brain activity. We need an evac," he said, turning to her with eyes wide open in terror.

"Anderson! Answer me!" Ashley shouted into her com-unit.

"_Williams! Finally, we have been trying to raise you for some time now. Nihlus reported back already, the bombs have been taken care of,"_ Anderson's voice came from the comms, clear as ever.

"Well, that's good to hear, but we need an evac, Shepard is down!"

"_Damn it, how badly is she hurt?"_

"I don't know, we found the beacon and secured it. It did something to her and now she's knocked out."

"_And the beacon?"_ She could hear that Anderson was just close to being afraid to ask.

"Blew itself up. It was glowing when we got here."

"_Damn it, this is just keeps getting better and better... Hold on, I will put Nihlus on the line."_

"_Commander? Are you okay?"_ Nihlus' voice echoed over.

"I am okay, but Shepard is down. The beacon exploded after doing something to her. I can give you the full report later."

"_I see... Jenkins is badly hurt, and Taylor is down too. What about Saren?"_

"No sign of him, nor the troops that were supposed to be here. No altars or anything geth used earlier."

"Anderson, can you raise Saren?" Nihlus asked Anderson.

"_Saren? Who?"_

"A fellow Spectre. We met him earlier."

"_Let me see,"_ Anderson's voice disappeared for few minutes, before returning, _"No response. 63rd Scout Flotilla just entered the system and the last geth ships are pulling out. We will leave this to Mikhailovich to mop up. We're coming into the starport now. Chakwas will be waiting for you on board. I want full debriefing ASAP."_

"Yes sir," Ashley said.

"_I need to contact the Citadel first, Captain,"_ Nihlus cut in.

"_Very well, I'll patch you through,"_ Anderson said with a resigned sigh. _"We will need to head there anyways. The Council is going to want to hear about the geth attack."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**End Chapter**

**Authors Notes:**

_Here we go, the end of Eden Prime. Compared to the games, where everybody will just keep fighting despite getting shot, we are determined to show that yes, these people will get hurt. A lot. Expect to see visits to med-bay to become a regular occurrence, rather one time events because Chakwas needs some brandy._

_However, by the same token we are taking great advantage of Mass Effect's advanced medical technology to avert Stormtrooper accuracy problems and actually hurt the characters. but allow them to get back up. But, medi-gel is no substitute for proper medical attention, so they will end up visiting Chakwas fairly regularly._

_This chapter was somewhat split, with Luke Danger handling Nihlus' section and Mandemon handling the beacon. Both and Teen Spirit then read over the rest and smoothed it out, fixing problems seen and preparing it for the final copy that is now written._

_Also, we would like to thank Relvain Jenafuse, Alec McDowell, Endrius, deadal, and ww1990ww for their detailed reviews and to all our other readers._

_Also, once again, the codex entries. This time we have one for the geth and an overview of Hospitallers. This one is cut from a much, much longer overview of the twelve Chivalric Orders and is not intended to be in-depth, more of a brief overview of all the major points._

**Codex: Chivalric Orders - Orders Overview (Subsection, Hospitallers)**

The Knight Hospitallers, lead by the Grandmaster Cyril von Hofstadter, are notorious as anti-slavery crusaders who had a major hand in the Batarian Crusade. While relatively generalist in capabilities, they are one of the more militarized orders and do less charity than others. However, due to their militarized focus they are a common sight on border colonies or areas at risk as well as occasionally conducting offensives into the Terminus Systems to take out slaver groups. This makes them a somewhat controversial group as the retaliatory raids for such are well publicized by slavers attempting to discredit them. However, many freed slaves whom the Hospitallers have escorted to the safety of the Citadel Space tell many heroic tales with a similar theme. Slavers being broken and destroyed, liberty gained, and hope rekindled.

**Codex: Geth**

The geth are a humanoid race of networked A.I.s. They were created by the quarians 300 years ago as tools of labor and war. When the geth showed signs of self-evolution, the quarians , fearing the represeal from the Citadel Council, attempted to exterminate them before they could fully gain sapience. The geth won the resulting war. This example serves as a warning to the rest of the galaxy of the potential dangers of artificial intelligence and has lead to the legally enforced, systematic repression of artificial intelligences throughout galactic society.

The geth possess a unique distributed intelligence. An individual has rudimentary animal instincts, but as their numbers and proximity increase, the apparent intelligence of each individual improves. In groups, they can reason, analyze situations, and use tactics as well as any organic race.

Geth space is located at the trailing end of the Perseus Arm, beyond the lawless Terminus Systems and borders of the Star Empire. The Perseus Veil, an obscuring "dark nebula" of opaque gas and dust, lies between their space, the Empire's borders and the Terminus Systems


	4. Normandy: Eden Prime Aftermath

"Stupid... Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Ashley cursed to herself as she stowed her equipment away. Chakwas had released her and the rest of the team after going over them and telling them to avoid getting shot so much. The exceptions were Jenkins, Taylor and Shepard who were going to spend a while recovering, with Shepard still knocked out.

"Beating yourself over something?" a distinct voice startled her. Turning around, she saw that Nihlus had come downstairs.

"Well, yeah," Ashley said with a light shrug, "Shepard is currently in the med-bay because I was being stupid. I should have never approached that beacon."

"You could not have known that it was rigged," Nihlus said as he walked up to her.

"Yeah, but I should have realized it was activated. Should have contacted you first," she countered.

"You are not an archaeologist, nor a tech specialist, nor did you have access to the Spectre files on prothean beacons. You had no idea and no way of knowing. Besides, nobody in our team died and Chakwas said that Shepard is physically okay, apart from the wounds she got from the geth and aliens. She should wake up any time now."

"Doesn't excuse my actions. I should have known better."

"You do realize that Alenko is also blaming himself?"

"What does he have to blame himself for?" Ashley asked, turning around as Nihlus leaned on an empty equipment locker.

"He blames himself for burning himself out. If he had moderated himself earlier, he would have been able to pull you out, without the need for Shepard to pull heroics."

"He does not need to feel bad about that. Nothing he could have done about it," Ashley countered, closing her equipment locker. "It should be me in the med-bay, not her."

"Oh?" Nihlus asked as he tilted his head, "People get hurt on battlefield. You should not feel bad about it."

"I've got no problem getting hurt. I fear neither pain nor death. I just don't like people dying for me," Ashley explained, sitting on the weapons bench that normally was used to maintain weapons.

"The weight of being the commander," Nihlus nodded slowly. "I doubt this is the first time someone is out of action from your command, correct?" Nihlus asked, taking a step forward and he looking at her directly.

"No. I've lost people before. It doesn't make it any easier," Ashley explained as she looked down and considered some of the men and women who had died under her command during her live missions in the ITC program. "I just prefer to bring my team alive out of everything. Alive and relatively okay."

"Well, nobody died so that is a plus in my books. Once Shepard wakes up, you can ask her. I doubt she would blame you."

"Uh, thanks. I think."

"You're welcome," Nihlus answered. "And for the record, you handled the mission extremely well. Perhaps there were things that could have been done better, but we have the benefit of hindsight. In the moment, you rolled with changing circumstances and kept us moving," he paused. "You said that some of the husks you ran into wore Alliance armor and had been shot in the head?"

Ashley closed her eyes, remembering the husks and shivering. The idea of that kind of violation of someone's dead body? "Yeah, they were. No offense, Nihlus, but I think Powell was right about Saren. Those weren't lucky headshots and there was no battle damage before I started shooting. I'm not sure exactly what forensics will be able to turn up after the battle damage I caused, but those looked like execution shots rather than someone sniping."

Nihlus paused and shook his head. "It's possible, but I need more proof before I commit to that. At the very least, we need to find out what went wrong. Saren said he would be at the spaceport and given one monorail was taken, I don't see how he would have not been there. And I could not raise him either after the jamming was gone."

"I dunno, it seems like a pretty clear cut case at least as far as detaining him for questioning. I mean, sure, maybe something happened, but considering just how out of the blue this whole mess was, if I was the Council I would have him come in while the matter was investigated."

"Spectres are not drawn in so easily," Nihlus explained. "We are above the law, only answering to the Council. Being a Spectre means that you have the freedom and initiative to do whatever you must to protect the Citadel. If that means bombing a civilian building full of innocents to prevent a plague from wiping out a city, then that's acceptable. If it means assassinating major leaders, we can do that."

Ashley paused and looked down at her hands, wondering if she could do something like that. "That seems… risky. I mean, what happens when a Spectre goes rogue? That level of power… law enforcement wouldn't be able to touch them."

"Indeed. C-Sec investigations into Spectres tend to end poorly, which is why Spectres have to police ourselves. If I went rogue and you were a Spectre, it is quite possible you would be sent after me. It's more or less the only way to do so. The Council can strip Spectre status, but anyone who is chosen as a Spectre is likely to have the skill set to dodge most law enforcement and even military efforts."

"I'm not sure I'd be able to stomach that. Killing a bunch of innocents, I mean. We're supposed to be soldiers making the galaxy safer, not being hard men making hard decisions that aren't needed," Nihlus paused and gave her a confused look. "Sorry, human phrase. More or less refers to people who are 'strong' because they make extreme decisions for the greater good or whatever, usually tends to mean they're just psychopaths."

"I see," Nihlus said slowly. "Not all Spectres go to extreme lengths, but we have that length if we need to."

"So, if Saren was behind this attack, it would mean that he could more or less get away with it?"

"Not quite," Nihlus answered as he activated his omni-tool and Ashley's beeped with a new file sent to it. "Spectres have unofficial limits. Generally, we stop at destroying colonies unless there is a clear and present danger. Wiping one out just to get a prothean beacon or to cover an operation is generally when Spectres start getting their status revoked. Collateral is permitted with minimal grumbling. Wholesale slaughter is not. The file I sent is in regards to Jinora, an asari Spectre who destroyed a whole salarian colony to stop a bioweapon project."

Opening the file, which she found to be a partial excerpt, Ashley's jaw much to her shame dropped as she saw just how far the asari had gone. "Seriously? She did that?"

"She did," Nihlus answered with what was almost certainly shame. "The initial decision - using firebombs to incinerate the weapons project - that made sense. What did not make sense was deploying them throughout the whole colony and destroying the atmospheric dome protecting the colony so that everything suffocated or burned to death," Nihlus shook his head. "The project she stopped had to be, but even Spectres have limits of how far we go."

"What happened to her?" Ashley asked as she closed the file as it did not say.

"Killed by three other Spectres on Illium. No one else was capable of the task."

"So basically, the Council is okay with some collateral, a lot more than most militaries, but they draw a line at mass murder on planetary scales."

"Correct, but if there is a clear and critical need to do so, the Council may quietly accept that. However, the Spectre in question often finds themselves brought up anyways as the Council needs to project the image of holding the moral high ground."

Ashley frowned. "Why're you telling me this? I'm not even a Spectre yet, and this is some potentially damaging stuff."

Nihlus chuckled. "Oh, certainly, if the Council stood up in front of the galaxy and said 'We are fine with bombings on civilian targets', they would likely get replaced. But unofficially, amongst political and military circles it is accepted that Spectres have significant leeway. And you, Commander Williams," he pointed at Ashley, "will need to decide just how far you would go if you became a Spectre. What you did on Eden Prime showed that you had the skill to fight and lead. The question I have is, how far would you go to defend Eden Prime - the shining beacon that the Alliance could colonize the stars - if you knew a threat was coming? How far would you go to protect Earth, your homeworld?"

She did not know the answer to that. It would be too easy to simply say as much as it took, but seeing the story on the Spectre gone rogue and the potential of Saren doing what he did to actually somehow help the Council made her wonder if she could. "I have to ask… have Spectres ever been hunted down for actions that even the Council privately understands to be needed?"

"They have," Nihlus answered. "A few come back to accept the consequences of their actions. Those are rarely listed amongst the rogue Spectres, though, because they chose to come back. But otherwise, they would rather be in the dark about how much collateral will be required. Plausible deniability."

As Ashley rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably, Nihlus pushed himself off the locker. "Anyone who joins the Spectres need to recognize that they may need to accept the Council deciding they were wrong, publically at least. But Spectres are heavily vetted; you can count the number of Spectres who had truly gone rogue with only one digit," Nihlus paused before glancing to the elevator. "It's a question you have to wrestle with. For me, the choice was easy."

"Why?" Ashley asked in surprise.

"Unlike yourself, I was a…" he paused for a moment. "Well, during my time in the Arminger Legion I was considered unorthodox. My tactics worked, allowing me to rout whole enemy patrols and stop them from destroying my squad, but they were risky. When Saren offered me the chance to become a Spectre, I took it with both hands because I would not stick to the conventional. But I did not completely think through of what it entailed," He glanced towards the Mako briefly. "For me, I did not fully think through about what being a Spectre may entail, I just wanted the freedom to operate."

"And you don't want me to make the same mistake."

"Neither you nor Shepard. Both of you could go far, but being a Spectre is far less glamorous than the vids suggest, even compensating for the industry's dramatization," he paused a moment with a brief snort before continuing. "You two have options if you do not become Spectres by choice or just by there being a better candidate from another pair. There is no dishonor in not becoming a Spectre," he added quickly as Ashley raised an eyebrow, "it is an exclusive organization for a reason. But you were chosen as a potential Spectre, which by itself is a testament to your potential even if you never join our ranks. You made a mistake today, but even the best make mistakes. Even Saren has miscalculated before and made mistakes."

"I think I see what you're saying," Ashley answered slowly as she folded her arms and looked down. "I need to mull over it a bit, but… thank you."

"You're welcome," Nihlus said as he checked his omni-tool. "Excuse me, the Council said they would have reports related to Eden Prime and I need to read them over."

"No problem, I think I just need some time."

The turian left and Ashley slid off the table, leaning her head against the locker. Part of her wanted to latch onto what Nihlus was saying, that it was not her fault and she did the best she could with the cards she had, the galaxy just decided this was the day to treat her like a volus. Another part of her still blamed herself. Why did she make Kaidan drop that fuel tank and further trash his biotic abilities? Why did she approach the unknown alien technology like some stupid chick in a horror thriller?

She was still wrestling with the fact when her omni-tool began beeping.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Death. Destruction. Pain. That was all she could feel. Images of torture, echoing, mutilated squealing that sounded like a pig put into a cybernetic grinder as she was forced to watch images that blurred too fast to recognize or comprehend. Was this Hell itself, the home of the damned and Satan? _Oh God, help me!_ She prayed desperately before blacking out.

"_Doctor! Doctor Chakwas! I think she's waking up!"_

_Where am I?_ She wondered as her vision, while still blurry, stopped moving rapidly in a hellish orange and in a more dull blue and grey. Her head was pounding like the thunder of multiple dreadnaughts firing their main cannons, and she was sore all over. Regaining enough vision to see she was on some sort of table, she pushed herself up and looked up as an older woman walked by in a lab outfit and stood in front of her.

"You had us worried there for a moment, 'Sir' Shepard," the woman said warmly though her lip curled after mentioning her title, "How're you feeling?"

Etel Shepard groaned, putting a hand on her forehead, "I feel like the morning after I tried to outdrink my brothers," Not a pleasant memory, nor was the scolding all four of them got afterwards. She glanced around and finally recognized where she was. The _SSV Normandy_, an Alliance vessel. Glancing down, she noticed she was in Alliance fatigues as well. "Uh, how long was I out?"

"About fifteen hours," Doctor Chakwas explained, "Something happened down there with the beacon."

"A beacon?" Shepard asked, her mind still a blur.

"It's my fault," Ashley Williams added, wearing similar Alliance fatigues, "the prothean beacon down on Eden Prime had some sort of security field that I triggered. You had to pull me out of the way, and it targeted you instead."

It was coming back to her now. The mission to Eden Prime. The geth, the aliens. The overstraining of her biotic abilities in the lengthy battles. The device attempting to grab the Lieutenant-Commander. And she remembered the mission: to recover it. "What happened to the beacon?" Etel asked. "Was it recovered after?"

"It blew up," another voice said and Etel turned - and grunting in pain from her neck as she did so - to see Jenkins covered with medical bandages and sitting up on the gurney next to her, with Jacob on another one past him. Sleeping, given he was not hooked up to life support. "Though you'd have to ask the LC for the details."

"Right, you went for the nukes," Etel nodded, very slowly as to avoid hurting her head, and turned back to the doctor and Lieutenant-Commander. "So, the beacon exploded?"

"System overload or something, according to Nihlus," Williams explained. "The blast knocked you cold but apparently did no physical damage. We pulled you onto the ship along with Jenkins and Taylor."

"Why not a local hospital?" She asked with a frown. "Wouldn't that be quicker?"

"The _Normandy_ landed at the spaceport - the reason it was so clear was they had made room for us to land to pick up the beacon," Williams explained as she folded her arms and shook her head. "We pulled you onto the ship and there was no time to airlift you to a nearby hospital - the spaceport's had been shot to pieces and some of the geth had used toxic ammo in there."

"Thank you," Etel said, "I appreciate that," she glanced down at her clothing. "Uh, so why am I in Alliance gear?"

"We had to change your clothing once you were on board and your armor had been damaged by enemy fire," Chakwas explained. "We figured it would be polite to not override your locker for an extra set of clothes."

Etel smirked faintly. "Thank you."

"Physically, you're fine, but I detected some unusual brain activity. Abnormal beta waves. I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs usually matching intense dreaming," Etel was sure she could see Jenkins about to say something out of the corner of her eye, but she couldn't hear him.

Shepard moved herself to try and stand, but leaned on the end of the medical gurney as the images came back. "I don't know what I saw… death, destruction… it's not clear."

"Hmm, I need to put this down on your medical file, but otherwise, I'd say you are fine," Chakwas said, "I will inform the captain and Nihlus that you are awake, they will want to debrief you," she stepped away and began working on her console.

"Must have been one hell of a dream," Williams said, nodding at Etel.

"Yeah..." she said. "So, what happens now?"

"We're heading to the Citadel," Williams explained. "The Council is having an official hearing about the matter. Apparently it's a big enough issue that it'll be held fairly soon after we land. Taylor and Jenkins are going to be undergoing some more procedures at the Citadel as well for their injuries."

"Alright. What about me?" Etel asked, glancing down and noticing that her sword was leaning against the medical gurney she had been put on and grabbed it, strapping it back onto her belt.

"Honestly, I have no idea. If they keep the evaluations going, I'd assume you're sticking with us."

She nodded. "Makes sense. Do you really think this would change the evaluations, though? I mean, if they did not think we could handle danger I doubt we would have been selected."

"At most we'd just get transferred out of the _Normandy_," Williams glanced around and Jenkins looked at her with what seemed like disappointment.

"Well, we go where we're needed I suppose," The door to the medbay opened.

"Captain Anderson, Spectre Kryik," Williams said, saluting the captain.

"At ease," Anderson said. "We need to talk, both of you, in private," he glanced to Chakwas who simply nodded towards Taylor. Anderson nodded and gestured for the two to follow and the four walked towards Anderson's quarters as Kaidan was in the mess hall still fiddling with a control panel on the far side.

As they entered Anderson's quarters, he turned to Etel and smirked. "So, how does it feel being in Alliance colors?"

"Well, it fits," she answered, "though I would like to change into my own gear as soon as I can… where'd you get one that fit me anyways?"

"We keep some spares for the medbay," Williams explained as Anderson locked the door. "Just in case."

"No offense, Captain, but I would like to change into my spare kit once we're done here."

"None taken. You aren't Alliance, so you don't need to wear the fatigues. But before the fashion show starts, we need to discuss what happened on Eden Prime. Nihlus?"

The turian nodded and activated his omni-tool, displaying a holographic projection of the beacon. "Things look bad. The geth and those strange aliens attacking was bad enough, but we lost a prothean beacon. Saren has officially blamed it on you, Commander Williams, and you, Sir Shepard, saying you were careless."

"Jackass," Williams muttered under her breath.

"On that, at least, we agree," Etel said as she grit her teeth. "Where was Saren, then? He said he had men at the beacon. I didn't see any."

"We did, actually," Ashley answered. "Autopsy of the husks we fought there confirmed that they were Alliance soldiers. Probably death by headshot, but those spikes and the battle damage I caused makes confirming that impossible."

"What'll happen to the bodies?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"They are being kept in a secure facility and being studied by Alliance scientists," Anderson explained, "Or that was what Mikhailovich intended to do. Once we're certain they will stay dead and understand the husks' structure, they plan to pass the bodies on to their next of kin, but that will take time."

"I see," Etel answered, shivering briefly.

"Something wrong?" Nihlus asked.

"Just not a fan of ending up in a lab," she answered as she tried to push away the image of that being her on a lab table, dead and being studied by scientists.

"If it's any consolation it's not an idea I'm keen on either," Williams added. "But we need to know what those things are. How it happened. And we need to make sure they don't rise out of their graves again."

She nodded. It would do no good for them to rise again in a civilian area; even one could cause significant damage. "I know. But I had to ask. So. Saren. Has he really gone rogue or...?"

"Not quite," Nihlus explained. "He said he got pinned down by geth while trying to prevent them from maintaining air superiority and that the Alliance troops defending the beacon failed. Overall, he's laying this on the Alliance as a failure to protect its own borders."

"I don't buy that for a second," Williams growled. "If he was so concerned about the beacon, why didn't he do it himself? Obviously he thinks very little of us, so why trust something so important to the people he thinks can't defend their own outhouse? He's gone rogue, he's just trying to hide it."

"We don't know that," Nihlus answered quickly.

"No offense, but I'm with Williams here," Etel folded her arms. "There's just too much that doesn't add up. You saw Saren on Eden Prime, so there's no doubt he was there even if our word means nothing."

"But we didn't see him work with the geth," Nihlus countered. "Just one terrified dockworker's claim."

"Nihlus… I know it's hard to see a friend go off the deep end, but is leaving something critical to someone else Saren's MO?" Anderson asked. "Especially if he thinks little of those in question."

The turian paused, looking down thoughtfully before shaking his head. "This speculation will get us nowhere. I submitted my report, and will stand behind both of you. You did this mission as well as you could and the destruction of the beacon was an unfortunate set of unforeseen of circumstances that could not be prepared for. If anyone is at fault, it's me for not forwarding you the information on the details of beacons."

"Don't blame yourself," Etel said, seeing the turian tendency to blame themselves for a subordinate's failure coming out. "You had to disarm the nukes. If those went off, nothing would have mattered anyways. You were the only one who could do it for certain."

Anderson coughed. "Regardless of where the blame lies, however, we have an unfortunate situation ahead. The beacon was lost, and on an Alliance world. Even with the media spinning your actions as a heroic defense of the colony, we still cannot shake the fact we lost a major prothean artifact. We're setting course to the Citadel. This needs to be investigated and Saren needs to be questioned about this."

"And what about us?" Williams asked, folding her arms. "Are we going to need to talk to the Council?"

"That remains to be seen," Nihlus explained. "But you may be called into question as to why you did certain actions. I'll stand by your commands in the mission, Williams, but you will need to defend them against Saren as he has never been a fan of humans."

"Why?" Etel asked with a frown. "Even before the Alliance, we never offered any trouble to the Council intentionally," she could almost see Nihlus rolling his eyes before Anderson coughed.

"He sees humanity as a group that cannot set aside petty differences. He even told me that he would be happy to see the Alliance and Empire at war with each other so you can 'unify'," before Anderson could say anything, Nihlus added, "And no, I'm not telling this in breach of confidence, he said that he was okay with his views on humanity being known as it is, in his view, the truth."

"So we're going to the Citadel and may need to argue why we weren't incompetent and just dealt bad cards?"

"More or less, Commander," Anderson answered. "Though, Nihlus believes that this is simply going to be a bump in the road rather than stopping either of your candidacies."

"Correct. Spectres are not unknown to failure, but how we act afterwards is what decides how it is looked at. When we land on the Citadel, I will be meeting the Council personally. As I understand it, the human embassy will want to talk to both of you."

"Ambassador Leonidas has contacted me via Udina and wants the whole ground team from the beacon there," Anderson elaborated. "Jenkins and Taylor, due to their injuries, are going to be transferred to the C-Sec Academy's infirmary once we land for final treatments. Jenkins should be back on board by the time we leave the Citadel, however."

"Is Taylor going to stay aboard?" Williams asked. "He seemed capable."

"No," Anderson said. "He's a good soldier and we could benefit from his talent, but he just lost his whole unit. I would like to take him in, but I was overruled by Mikhailovich," Anderson's lip curled. "Apparently, he thinks Taylor has more use separate from being, quote, 'stuck under a turian and a knight'."

"A shame," Williams said, "but that's what we have to deal with."

Etel's stomach grumbled as she realized she had not eaten for a long time, nor prayed. "With all due respect, if there is nothing else I should take my leave."

Anderson nodded and unlocked the door. "Go ahead. That's more or less all there is."

Everyone except Anderson left the captain's quarters and Etel headed for her locker, Williams following behind her. She began to pick her clothing from the foot locker she had been assigned, noting that she would need to request a new tabard for her armor. She shifted through her belongings for a while, before hearing a questioning murmur from Williams, who was standing nearby with her arms folded.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"A cloak? Really?" Williams asked back, nodding towards the cloak stowed at the back of the locker.

"Ceremonial, much like the sword," Etel responded as she put her hand on the pommel briefly, "We use them on official events, like knighting a new member. You receive the cloak when you are inducted into the Order, and the sword when knighted."

"I see, I guess that makes sense," Williams nodded, rubbing back of her neck.

"So, where can I change?" Etel asked before pausing and glancing down. "Or clean up."

Williams nodded at the back of the med-bay and two of them headed there, with Williams staying outside while Etel cleaned herself and changed into her non-armor outfit. It was relatively simple, a loose black tunic that reached down to her knees and darkly colored pants to go with it. The heraldry of Hospitallers, a white Maltese cross, was displayed on the chest, and it was all held together by her belt. She stepped out, only meet the stares of the three conscious Alliance members, with Doctor Chakwas taking only a short look before returning to her work with a shrug.

"What?" Etel asked in surprise.

"Nothing," Williams said, shaking her head. Jenkins seemed to be trying to suppress a smirk. Trying being the operative word.

Etel went to grab something to eat while Williams headed downstairs for weapons maintenance. Alenko was still fiddling with the panel near the food dispensers. She grabbed her meal, this time the meat was beef rather than the chicken that had been in the last meal, and sat down to eat and think what she had just been told. A Spectre likely to have gone rogue and blaming her for a complete failure when he was nowhere to be seen? Strange aliens and geth attacking known space? Anderson was right, she decided, this mission did just get a whole lot more complicated.

"Sir Shepard," a voice roused Etel from her thoughts. Turning her head, she saw Lieutenant Alenko approaching her, having given up on doing whatever he had been working on with the panel, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, Lieutenant. How can I help you?" she asked.

"I wanted to ask you about something. That trick you pulled, back on Eden Prime," Alenko said, gesturing with his thumb behind him, "What was that?"

"Something my friend back in Hospitallers once theorized. He preferred getting up and close the enemy and engage in melee. We always joked that he was part krogan," Etel smiled at the memory, before adopting more serious expression. "Or at least until he died."

"I am sorry to hear that," Alenko said, nodding.

"Anyway," Etel said shaking her head and leaving the past, "he always complained that it was so hard to get into the melee. We used to throw him into the fight, on his command of course," she added after seeing Alenko's expression, "So once, he talked that if he had biotics of his own, he could throw himself."

"Hmm..." Alenko hummed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"He said that just like we had some control over throwing him, so it was not just a random force being applied, what if you would throw yourself?" She shook her head, "We never tried it. Too risky. When you're in the air you're a sitting duck, traveling at certain speed in a certain direction. If the enemy can anticipate you or has enough time, they can easily shoot you down."

"Or if they have biotic of their own, they can easily counter you," Alenko added. Etel nodded, not having thought of that, "Still, it's something to consider. It certainly caught those aliens off guard."

"True, but if you and Williams had not backed me up, they would have shot me down. It was a stupid plan," she shook her head, trying to remember why she had thought it was a good idea to try it.

"Well, it's only stupid if you fail. If you succeed, it's genius," Alenko said, grinning. Etel shook her head at the comment, unable to resist a smile of her own.

"You're a real joker, aren't you?" She asked.

"Oh no, wait until you meet our pilot. He is the real Joker. Even is called Joker."

"He is a funny person?"

"Depends whenever you consider his jokes funny or not, but he certainly has more than enough of them."

"So, the quality of quantity?"

"More or less."

"_Speaking of jokes,"_ a voice on the intercom cut in, _"What did the knight say after trying to lance a windmill?"_

"Ouch?" Etel offered in confusion as Alenko smirked.

"_Foul giant! I will get thee yet!"_

"She wouldn't get it, Joker," Kaidan shot back, "Jerusalem got yanked in 1192, Don Quixote wasn't for another five hundred years. I'm not even sure that's a line from the book..."

"_Aw…."_

Etel frowned. "Was he spying on us?"

"The pilot has access to several shipboard cameras," Kaidan explained. "Mostly because if he needs to see something wrong elsewhere he can without needing to send someone. It's also good for catching someone screwing up an engine intake," he glanced up with a slight scowl. "And yes, Joker does sometimes use it to interrupt."

"Shouldn't he be paying attention to flying?"

He shrugged. "Once you've launched through a relay, piloting is mostly being there just in case and checking things."

Etel nodded before returning to her meal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Half an Hour Later**

"Lieutenant, you got a minute?" Ashley asked as the two were by the stairs to the CIC.

"Sure," Kaidan said as he winced, putting a hand on his head.

"Back on Eden Prime, at the monorail station. What happened there, with your head?"

"Oh, that," Kaidan shook his head. "No big deal. Just side effects from my L2."

She frowned. "I thought they had a retrofit to fix those problems."

"Yeah, but it's a pretty invasive surgery. Most biotics stick to the implant they got first - the L1's are more or less normal people, never mind a non-combat biotic," he glanced towards the sleeping pods briefly. "Not sure what the Empire uses, but she at least clocks in with an L2."

Ashley frowned as she guessed which 'she' he was referring to. "So our normal biotics are stronger?"

"Nah," Kaidan said as he shook his head. "L3 implants don't put out as much power - that was the cost of removing the side effects. I'm pretty sure her implant's better than mine, if only because the Empire was able to get some off the shelf ones."

"So you get headaches if you use your biotics?"

"Sort of," he rolled his neck briefly. "If I use mild biotics, I don't get too much feedback. If I don't do something major, like just pulling a glass of water a few centimeters or something, no headaches. Combat biotics, yes, those tend to give me headaches but most of the time it's not bad enough to impair me and the adrenaline rush dampens it."

"What if you overuse?"

"Like on Eden Prime? Well, that was more biotic power then I used… well, more than previously, actually."

"Hang on a minute," Ashley raised an eyebrow as she processed what Kaidan was saying. "You're saying that you used more biotic power on Eden Prime then you used your whole life?"

"At least since BAaT, I… sorta toned down on my usage. That's why I ended up in the Sentinel program instead of the Adept one. The Alliance offered to finish my biotic training, but after what happened in BAaT I declined and went for medicine and tech instead. As I was a biotic I did have to perform some biotic training to be certified for duty, but that was the limit of it."

She nodded as she recalled what she had heard of that program. "I think I understand. Just keep me in the loop about any problems, okay?"

"Don't worry about me," Kaidan added quickly, "I don't need extra time off or anything. It's a side effect, I honestly probably should of held back on my biotics earlier anyways," he grit his teeth. "I would have if I didn't let my emotions get the better of me."

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked curiously as she stopped leaning against the wall.

"Remember how I trained as a technician in the Sentinel program rather than going full biotics? It's because, well… I've always held back against living targets since BAaT," he grimaced and closed his eyes, shaking his head. "It's not something I'm proud of."

"You don't need to go back into that if you don't want to."

"It's okay, it's in the past. I dealt with my issues. But I always held back. Then I saw what the geth and aliens did to Eden Prime and I just… I just wanted to rip them limb from limb. I mean, I'm one of the lucky L2s - there are some out there who have to avoid triggering biotics accidently by sneezing to avoid migraines and far worse. I had the power to stop it, relatively mild side effects, and I was _holding back_!" Kaidan deflated with a sigh. "And because I let my anger get the better of me, I couldn't pull you out of the beacon and Shepard had to get hurt. Hell, maybe I'm the one who caused the beacon to actually explode."

"Don't blame yourself, you had no way of knowing and Shepard overwhelmed her amp too in that fight," Ashley said immediately. "You did the best you could."

Kaidan smirked. "Huh. Nihlus talked to you, didn't he?"

"He talked to you?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. More or less said that it was probably his fault. He's taking this hard, though he's not showing it."

Ashley immediately recalled Nihlus' comments about the blame. "Yeah, I noticed that. I didn't expect him to blame himself so much for something he genuinely could not have had an effect on."

"It might be a turian thing. I remember reading something about being promoted past your skillset is more on the promoter then the guy in question when he screws up the new rank," he shrugged. "Not something I'm keen on asking him about, though. But don't worry about me, okay? I'm used to coping with the hand I've been dealt, you have bigger worries. Like the betting pool." He grinned widely like a kid in a candy shop.

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Let me guess - time until Shepard and I get into a fight?"

"More or less."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what you bet..." Ashley's omni-tool chirped and she activated it. "Williams here."

"_Hey commander,"_ Joker answered, _"Captain wanted me to pass on a message to tell you and Kaidan to prep the BDUs and pistols for the Citadel."_

"Not dress blues?" Ashley frowned. Dress blues would have been more appropriate for meeting the Council.

"_No dress blues. Something about expecting trouble. Plus, Nihlus is apparently going to be wearing his armor there, some sort of Spectre thing I guess, so I guess you don't want to look totally vulnerable."_

"Least we're not being asked to wear armor and a full weapon kit," Kaidan added. "How long until we get to the Citadel, Joker?"

"_About a day, but I might be able to shave off some time; after all, I fly in style."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Etel finished praying, she heard footsteps behind her and rose, turning to see Nihlus standing there. "Spectre Kryik?"

"You can call me Nihlus; I thought I said I was okay with using my first name," Nihlus answered. "How're you feeling?"

"Better," she answered. "My head is still a mess, but that's not something I think Doctor Chakwas is going to be able to help with."

The turian nodded. "Some scars can't be healed with medicine. You performed admirably down there, Shepard. No problems following Williams' orders."

She shrugged. "We barely know each other. Though, we have not really talked either. It's…" she paused, trying to search for the right word.

"You two have been tiptoeing around each other," Nihlus supplied. "But I am glad to see you two can work together and interact. It would be a rather long evaluation process without talking."

"Heh," Etel rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "I'll take your word for it. But I'm not sure we're going to become friends. I mean, we have some common ground but…"

"... but?"

"But I'm not sure we would really agree. I mean, the Alliance is pretty adamant about not becoming part of the Empire and as a noble I more or less represent what they dislike about us. I guess the only thing we can really talk about right now is the guns we use and tactics. We don't have a lot of common ground."

Nihlus tilted his head slightly before shrugging. "I think both of you would be surprised. But as long as you two can work together, then we should be fine. Even if both of you end up as Spectres, that does not mean you two will stay together. It's mostly for the evaluation."

"I understand. Keeping it fair, making it so no one can complain about one side getting better teachers, that sort of thing," Etel paused, curling her lip before mustering the courage to ask. "How do you and Saren know each other anyways?"

"He's the reason I became a Spectre," Nihlus answered openly, "In my youth, I was part of the Arminger Legion and even by their standards I was an unorthodox operative. My tactics were risky, but worked. My superiors only saw the risk and I was close to being drummed out when Saren found me."

"He took you in as a candidate?"

"It was a mission into the Terminus, small scale operation that we could only pull off because it was right on the border and our target had already poked C-Space enough to give us justification. An asari warlord had kidnapped several salarian scientists and was having them work on chemical weapons and gene mods so they could deploy them freely without harming their own troops."

"I'm not a scientist, but that sounds damn hard to tailor."

"It is," Nihlus added before continuing. "During the mission, my squad got pinned down and I was cut off from them. I broke the attack pinning my squad down, but I wounded half of them in the process," He seemed to wince in regret. "They understood why I did it, but we started to grow distant and my commanders felt that it was the last straw."

"And Saren saw it?"

"He did. He saw what I did and said that that kind of capability and willingness to risk it was what the Spectres needed and took me in before my superiors could formally dump me from the Arminger Legion."

"He was your mentor into the Spectres?" Etel asked as she finally connected the dots. "Like what you're doing for Williams and myself."

Nihlus nodded. "Exactly. Within a year, I underwent my first independent mission. I had to dodge an asari justicar as a result of it, but I managed to pull it off and I was formally inducted shortly afterwards. Saren and I remained in contact. Saren can be extreme, but he does it for the best of Citadel space."

"So… how does that factor in his hate for humans?" She asked as she leaned against an empty sleeping pod.

"It happened around the time the Alliance was found. His brother, Desolas, was one of those sent to Shanxi, a general in charge of an investigation to see exactly where what we believed to be an Imperial effort came from. A year later, Desolas was off duty in a bar and a brawl broke out. Humans from the Alliance and Empire, inflamed by one of the late Emperor Titus' speeches. Desolas tried to break it up but was killed in the ensuing brawl."

"That's terrible," Shepard said. The turian simply nodded in response.

"But that was where the hate really began for Saren. He used to see humans as having a quirk with the Faith of Abraham, sort of like the asari and the whole maiden stage. Then he saw the Alliance and how it turned violent small scale and felt that humans were unable to come to an agreement and killed each other for it."

"So he wants us to more or less undergo a Unification War to get that out of our collective culture?" Etel asked in shock.

"More or less," Nihlus said, "Or just anything to have you unify into one government, even if it meant the Hierarchy forcing it. He doesn't want humanity exterminated, just made to play nice."

She shook her head. "No offense, but why would he want a war? I mean, the War of Succession ended with one side almost wholly destroyed and there were a lot less nobles after that ended. So did all our other conflicts." _For God's sake,_ she thought, _the Batarian Crusade was an exception rather than the rule..._

"To Saren, that is an acceptable outcome if it means humans will be united and end this human situation," he paused, before adding, "I personally believe there is more for humanity to contribute from both sides, but I don't blame Saren for believing what he does," he glanced up and ahead and nodded to himself quietly. "We should be arriving at the Citadel soon. If you want to clean up further, this would be a good time to do so."

She nodded. "I'll be ready."

"Good," with that, he walked off and Etel was still there in the row of sleeping pods. A war to unify? She looked around the _Normandy_, wondering what humanity would gain if they followed Saren's idea of making humanity work together. And if that was what was needed, why would God want His children to murder each other in His name? All of God's children were to one day unite and she had always thought that she would die long before that truly happened. Yet the idea of bringing the Alliance in by force did not sit well with her as she eventually made her way to the cockpit to check in on just how long it would take.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**One Day Later**

**Citadel Presidium**

The arrival to the Citadel was rather uneventful, apart from having to wait until they had cleared all the additional security checks by the Citadel Defense Fleet at the station itself. No more geth attacks had been reported and there was no sign of the geth fleet, but as they had been coming directly from the warzone C-Sec decided to be safer rather than sorry. The Council was running their own investigations at the moment, both into Saren and into the attack, but the Citadel was still a place at peace. Eden Prime and the war brewing from the destruction there was nothing but a distant memory, safe and far from the impenetrable arms of the Citadel itself.

On board the Citadel, they were met by a group of nurses and doctors, who took Jacob and Jenkins with them to a C-Sec operated hospital. Meanwhile, the rest of the team went to the embassy, except Nihlus who had to meet with the Council. The four called an elevator from the C-Sec Academy to get to the Presidium and it slowly trudged up.

"So Shepard," Alenko asked suddenly, jolting Etel out of her drifting thoughts. "I'm kinda curious on something; all the history textbooks on theocracies back on Earth said that they more or less had women stay in the kitchen. I didn't expect to see a Spectre candidate from the Empire to be a woman."

Etel frowned, looking at him. "Why, Earth can't have something against women in the military - look at Commander Williams."

"To be fair that wasn't really ironed out until the 21st century," Williams added. "But even the theocracies then had the issue."

"Well, for the Empire at least, it happened in the War of Succession. Big civil war before we got off Nod - we were still being slowly uplifted to the modern tech level. To put a long story short, it was a war over which twin was the next emperor and the Empire was fairly evenly split and the war stalemated."

"How'd it end?"

"Women joining the field, actually. A bunch of them rallied around Saint Ilham, and they managed to win a couple critical battles that turned the tide. The Order of the Silken Blade was formed out of those volunteers after the war, though they were also the only militarized force that women could serve in for a while until the main military came to terms with it."

"I guess it'd be hard to say women can't do anything after they pull that off," Alenko said with a shrug before Anderson gestured for them to be quiet in the slow elevator and he turned up the installed radio.

"_In other news, recently deceased Prince Abdul-Rahman's son, Crown Prince Fredrick, released a statement earlier today. Our camera crews recorded it at the interview."_

Etel glanced worriedly towards the three Alliance members with her as the recording played. _"The Alliance's failure to defend their own borders is a clear sign that they deviate from what God intended - a unified humanity under the Star Empire. If the Alliance cannot swallow its own pride and accept this, then it will find itself torn apart by the threats of the galaxy. Eden Prime was a great tragedy, but one that could have been prevented…"_

Williams shut it off in disgust as Alenko shook his head. "Sorry about that," Etel said, wincing. "Crown Prince Fredrick tends to run off with his mouth somewhat. It's mostly youth talking there," the blank looks she received told her that they doubted that as the elevator finally came to a stop and they walked up the ramp to the Citadel Embassy suite and entered the one with the sign reading _Human Embassy_.

The embassy was of a size that would normally be considered large, but it was currently being divided between two ambassadors. One could easily see the division, by the way the desks were arranged on either side of the room, alongside banners from either state, arrayed opposite of each other like the hosts of two kings staring each other down before an inevitable battle.

"Ambassador Udina," Anderson said as they entered, nodding at the Alliance ambassador.

"Ambassador Leonidas," Etel said, nodding at her ambassador, who nodded back.

"You are all here. Good," Udina answered, standing and walking forward. "The hearing will be in few hours, but I want you to know what is to be expected. I don't want any political mistakes to be made. Saren is trying to spin this into incompetence and failure by your part. If not for Nihlus to back you up, this would be over already."

"Saren is lying," Williams said instantly, earning a nod from Alenko.

"Perhaps, but until we got solid evidence that he was behind the attack or that he screwed up, that doesn't mean anything," Udina countered harshly. "Now, Saren will be trying to goad you into saying something stupid. No matter what he says, only respond to questions presented by the Council. Ignore Saren."

"Has C-Sec come up with anything yet?" Anderson asked, stepping forward.

"Nothing and whether or not the investigations are continued depends on this hearing," Leonidas said from the other end of the room, earning a glare from Udina.

"This is not a matter that concerns the Empire, so I would appreciate that you keep to yourself," Udina said.

"A member of the Empire was on site and got hurt. I say this matter concerns the Empire very much," Leonidas countered, leaning forward from his desk. "Sir Shepard, I hope you have received the best treatment and available medical care during your stay on _Normandy?_"

"Yes, ambassador," Etel answered, "Captain Anderson and the crew of _Normandy_ has been most hospitable and any lingering problems will not be because of poor treatment."

"Good, good. That is good to hear," Udina was glaring at the imperial ambassador. "Now, as to the matter itself, it should be relatively simple. Avoid taking any bait that Saren gives and show that you were acting with honor. Let them see the strength that God gave humanity and that Saren is simply slandering the extent of your skills"

"I will instruct the members of my state how to conduct themselves," Udina shot back. "I do not need you looking over my shoulder. The Alliance is not some child, no matter how new we are to the galactic stage.

"I take it that you two don't get along?" Etel asked with a frown.

"Political differences," Leonidas said with a shrug. "But do remember, you are a junior here Udina, and this is still technically the Empire's embassy."

"Yes, you are keen on reminding me of that," Udina answered with enough venom to kill a krogan.

"Can we get back on topic?" Williams cut in. "So we're expected to show up in a few hours to talk to the Council?"

"Yes," Udina answered. "Nihlus forwarded me-"

"_Us._"

Udina continued past the interruption, "forwarded me an information packet in regards to this. He will be arguing with the Council for a while and providing testimony, as well as reviewing the investigations so far. In the meanwhile, you are free to move around but keep your omni-tools ready to receive in case you are needed early. Anderson, I want you to stay here. I need to talk to you," he turned his head towards Williams and Etel. "The rest of you I'll meet at the Citadel Tower - Nihlus has given you two clearance." he turned to Alenko. "And you, Lieutenant, are expected to stay with them. You were on the team that was at the beacon."

"Yes sir," he answered with a shrug in his Alliance battle dress uniform.

"Also, Anderson… battle dress?"

"Nihlus suggested it," Anderson explained. "Otherwise I would let them wear what they felt worked best."

"I see. Very well then, you three are dismissed. Follow me, Anderson," the two walked away as Leonidas stood.

"Sir Shepard, I don't suppose you could do me a quick favor?"

"Certainly, Ambassador. What is it?"

The ambassador held out a data slate and she took it. "It's the latest financing reports in regards to our dealings with Elkoss Combine and the Vol Protectorate. I promised Ambassador Korlack to have it ready in a few hours but I got it done early."

"I'm guessing the embassy is fairly far?" Williams asked.

"No, it's next door, but I need to go through the intelligence in regards to this situation as well as other matters, and you are headed out anyways."

"I'll bring it over," Etel answered as she took the slate.

"Thank you," He nodded and returned to his desk as the three walked out and took a right. Entering the embassy, they saw a volus and an elcor talking about something.

"Ambassador Korlack?" Etel asked, with the volus turning around.

"_*hiss*_ Well, look at that. _*hiss*_ Nod-clan and Earth-clan, all in peace. _*hiss*_ Not a sign you expect to see, especially with your ambassadors acting like they do. _*hiss* _How can I help you?" The volus asked, turning around. His rebreather hissed as he spoke.

"I got the reports from Ambassador Leonidas, regarding the recent deals with the Volus Protectorate and Elkoss Combine," Shepard said, giving the volus the datapad.

"_*hiss* _Oh, good. _*hiss*_ I didn't expect them to be ready yet," Korlack said, taking the datapad and nodding at Williams and Alenko. "_*hiss*_ With all this ruckus you Earth-clan are causing."

"Not a fan of humans?" Williams asked as she folded her arms.

"_*hiss*_ We volus have been here much longer than you humans. _*hiss*_ And now, thanks to you Earth-clan raising a fuss, _*hiss*_ it's more like that you will gain a Council seat just to get you to agree on something."

"That's silly," Etel countered, "we are nowhere near getting a Council seat. Having our people even agree to a shared embassy was a major fight for the Council, a lot of compromises."

"Should have seen the attack ads that were running during the election cycle after the joint embassy was announced," Alenko chimed in. "It really was a hard swallow."

"_*hiss*_ Of course. _*hiss*_ Yet, we volus do not even get our own embassy. _*hiss*_ We have to share ours with the elcor."

"That... is kinda weird, actually," Williams said with a confused look. "You'd think that the people who created and more or less run the galactic economy would have more power."

"_*hiss*_ Council only values military power. _*hiss*_ They don't care about your other skills."

"Chastisingly: You do not mean that, Din. The asari do not have much of a military either," the elcor spoke up. Williams and Alenko looked at him strangely briefly before glancing at each other and shrugging.

"Have you not heard of the asari commandos, _*hiss*_ Calyn, _*hiss* _who in the words of the turians are the finest _*hiss* _warriors in the galaxy?"

"Disappointedly: Yes, I have. And you of all people should be aware the asari are better known as diplomats and dancers than for their martial power."

"I doubt Council would want a divided species like ours on the Council. Especially since that is guaranteed to cause even more of a headache for everyone," Etel chimed in. "But let's say if we do, well… we'd owe a lot of it to you and your people. The Empire's military would nearly be as strong as it is without the Vol Protectorate's help."

"_*hiss*_ Are you mocking me?" Korlack demanded angrily, "_*hiss*_ I do not need your patronization!" He inhaled deeply.

"Apologetically:" Ambassador Calyn cut in, "My friend is somewhat sensitive to this issue. Please forgive him for his rudeness."

"It's okay," Alenko said, "I don't blame him for being annoyed about it, but this honestly isn't our fault."

"Bah," Korlack said in annoyance. "Blame who you wish,_*hiss*_ I know who is at fault. Now then, I should deal with this matter. At least in regards to finances, _*hiss* _your Empire plays it straight." He walked off to his desk on the far side of the embassy.

"Sympathetically: My apologies for his attitude.""

"It's okay, Ambassador," Etel answered, "I just didn't expect that much venom."

"Uh, sorry to be rude, Ambassador, but I've never met elcor before," Williams chimed in. "I think my translator might be a bit off, it keeps prefacing what you're saying with an emotion."

Etel stared agape at Williams before the ambassador… chuckled? Or what she had to assume was the elcor equivalent.

"Amusedly: No offense is taken. It is simply an effect of our language. Conversationally: The elcor use pheromones in our communication. As no other species has the ability to perceive them, translators preface our words with the emotion given off by the pheromones. The hanar have a similar situation with their bioluminescence, but the strength of it permits them to not require prefacing."

"Makes sense," Alenko said with a nod. "Can't expect every species to have the same general method."

"Well, we did what we came for," Etel said, "So how about something else? There is a good bar nearby. They got good food."

"Sounds good to me," Williams said, with Alenko nodding.

"Ambassadors," Etel said, nodding at two. Calyn nodded back, while Korlack merely waved his hand as the group exited.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**One Hour Later**

"Is that a Mass Relay?" Kaidan asked in surprise as they neared the Citadel Tower.

"That's the Relay Monument," Shepard explained as the three walked up to the fence near it. "It's a piece of prothean artwork the asari found."

"You know," Ashley said as she looked at the monument, "Art doesn't normally do much to me… but the relay statue? I like it."

"Anyone hear a low hum?" Kaidan asked. "Is that just me? It's kinda making my teeth tingle."

"Huh?" Ashley asked, frowning at him. "What do you mean?"

"A low hum, like it's coming from the statue."

"Weird," Shepard said as she curled her lip, "I don't feel it either."

_Not biotics then,_ Ashley decided. "L2 side effect?"

"Maybe. But that usually only happens when we do a relay jump or if I'm using a lot of biotics, not just standing around. If it's okay, I'm going to take a couple steps back; see if it goes away."

"Go ahead," Ashley said with a nod.

Kaidan walked away as Ashley and Shepard were standing there awkwardly looking around the Presidium before Shepard finally broke the silence. "Korlack was being rude about it, but he is right." Shepard said as the two leaned against the railing, looking over at the Relay Monument.

"Oh?" Ashley asked in surprise. "How?"

"This 'Human Situation' is in part our fault because we won't unify or even put up some sort of front together," Shepard put her hands up as Ashley glared at her. "Now hear me out. Korlack was wrong in that it was all our fault - a lot of that lies in the batarians for their slaving run in the first place - but what did we do at the first contact?"

"The Empire wanted to assimilate the Alliance at the drop of a hat and expected us to kowtow," Ashley answered, "and the Alliance more or less said 'Um, excuse me?' and said no."

"That's… harsher than I would put it. Emperor Baldwin is quite open to joint representation."

"Sorry Shepard, but we've only seen two Emperors and the last one was only held back from military force because the turians were sitting there waiting to beat up the aggressor. And that next-in-the-line, Fredrick? You've heard his statements. Sure, it might be youth talking, but he is your next Emperor."

She frowned. "Why are you so resistant to unifying? I mean, we're all children of God - even those who do not believe in Him and have yet to see the light. Is it wrong to set full unity into motion?"

"Can you really expect a civilization to be going about its life and expanding, then suddenly running into something from its past that expects them to fall in line right off the bat?" Ashley shot back. "That's more or less what happened with Shanxi and the first diplomatic meetings."

"You joined the Citadel Alliance quickly enough."

"The Citadel wasn't asking us to more or less reject all our governments and kneel before them. They were the reasonable ones. Emperor Titus? Not so much."

"Okay, so he expected too much too soon, but would you really object to an eventual unification with the Empire?"

"Personally? I probably could adjust," Ashley admitted as she briefly considered the prospect, "but that's because I've got the background to make the adjustment. What about other people? I'm relatively sure that the Empire doesn't approve of same-sex relationships."

"Do you?" Shepard asked.

Ashley paused, considering before shrugging. "Not my thing personally. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to pick on them because of it."

"We signed the Citadel Conventions - those rights are legally protected."

"But what about culturally?" Ashley asked, pressing her advantage. "The Empire takes their faith and runs with it. How can you expect every other subculture and faith, every piece of humanity that grew on Earth, to just drop it and kneel to a mere part of it that was yanked out a thousand years ago?"

"Honestly? Not immediately," Shepard answered as she gripped the railing tightly and looked at the Relay Monument. "It's not my place to question, but if unification is going to happen, it needs to happen in steps."

"Honestly, unification shouldn't happen at all," Ashley answered. "The systems of government are too incompatible."

"And the ones back on Earth are?"

"Okay, yeah, we had some trouble integrating some nations into the Alliance parliament, but that's because we built it as an alliance and adapted it. It's…" she paused as she was trying to figure out how to put it. "The Systems Alliance was a rush job, but it was always built as a joint effort because it's hard to colonize the stars without a single power overviewing it. And well, it's a good face."

"But that is more or less what Emperor Baldwin wants: a confederation, a union of the Alliance and Empire with us sharing representation."

"No offense, but while the current Emperor is a good man and I respect him, I'm not sure about the rest of the Empire. I mean, commoners under nobles? A feudal chain of command?" Ashley shook her head. "Wouldn't fly with the Alliance. And neither would the whole state religion deal."

"What're you saying? It's sounding like you're against there being a major faith."

"Hey, if people want to believe, they can believe, but state religion just ends badly when you run up against the diversity of the galaxy."

"Says the woman talking to a member of such a state, which has coexisted in the stars for four and a half centuries," Shepard leaned against the railing and tilted her head towards her.

Ashley raised an eyebrow as she turned to her counterpart. "Come on, don't tell me that the Empire wasn't prodded by the Council to be more acceptable to them. Four centuries in the stars? So, for six centuries you've been getting slowly poked at."

"If you're saying the asari were socially engineering us, don't. They're as much of a democracy as you can get," Shepard scowled at her briefly.

"Yeah, and you're still an absolute monarchy that thinks blood means more than leadership."

"And you don't think bloodline matters?"

"Not in regards to rulership. That needs to be earned. What would happen if Fredrick took power? You heard his statement," Ashley could already imagine the diplomatic problems it would entail.

Shepard shook her head and visibly mulled it over for a few moments. "But democracy… what was that quote Kaidan said? That it was the worst form of government?"

"But better than everything else we tried."

"It just… I can see the asari doing it, they have the long life to afford that kind of discussion, but how do we make it work?" Shepard scratched the back of her neck.

"Come on, you really think the asari were born into the world a democracy from the start?" Ashley rolled her eyes at the idea.

"No, but they can afford to spend a month or two debating parts of an issue at length. We only hit a tenth of their lifespan, maybe two tenths if we're extremely lucky," Shepard shook her head. "I mean, with democracy you never know who's going to be ruling next."

"But at least the people get to have a say in who their leaders are."

"And your politicians spent more time worrying about reelection than doing their jobs," Shepard shook her head. "Look, I can get the theory behind it. Don't agree, but I understand it. But… if you're always worried about reelection, how do your politicians make the unpopular choices that are needed?"

"That's more of a problem with the people then the system of government. But how else do you get the will of the people in?" Ashley glanced behind her up towards the Council tower behind them.

"Do the politicians of the Alliance really serve the people, though?" Shepard asked. "I mean, look at Udina."

"Yeah, he's a bit of a jackass," Ashley admitted with a shrug, "I won't hide that."

"But he makes my point. People like him are more concerned with themselves, and they're the ones in power. Democracy seems less about the will of the people and more about who's the best varren herder. Whoever's able to sway the most minds gets the post even if they aren't really serving the people. I don't see how that represents the will of the people."

"Oh come on," Ashley exclaimed in annoyance as she gripped the railing tightly, "even the Turian Hierarchy factors in what they want - they're allowed to complain up the chain. They might still follow orders, but it's not like they're not allowed to complain. I don't really see how that works with a bloodline based hierarchy. All I see is people who were born with silver spoons getting the throne and people below who are far better suited just have to deal with it."

"Commoners in the Empire are allowed to bring up their grievances," Shepard shot back immediately as her expression hardened, "they aren't slaves or anything like that. They can talk to the Imperial Administration if they're being abused."

"And how often do the nobles in question actually get slapped down?" Ashley countered immediately. "I remember that nobles rarely got in trouble for what they did to their peasants in the old days. It wasn't a peasant's place to question, just do."

"Because that's the order of the world. Every man has his place, and it's their duty to-"

"Oh come on, there's self-serving nobles in the Star Empire. Don't tell me that there aren't any," Ashley interrupted as she rolled her eyes. She knew what power did to people. And being born with the power rather than having to earn it?

Shepard paused as she scowled. "Yes, but that's what the Imperial Administration is for. To ensure that the nobles who abuse their power are caught and properly investigated. There's an order to the world, Williams. We all know our place. Commoners, aristocrats, nobles… everyone."

"You know who else used the arguments about knowing their place? The guys who thought women should stay in the kitchen."

"How is that related?" Shepard asked in surprise.

"I'm just pointing out that 'that's the way things are' is not a very good argument. You won't convince many people that the Systems Alliance should merge into the Empire with that."

"And how long did it take the Alliance's nations to figure out women's rights, for example?" Shepard shot back, leaning forward. "All it took for our side was for the Emperor to declare it and it was done. No beating around the bush, no extended arguments, it was there and done."

Ashley paused, taken aback as she realized that she really had walked right into that one. _Okay Shepard, point for you..._

"There, you see? People rarely know what they want. By the time your Parliament stops arguing and agrees to disagree, the Empire has already moved on. We do not get bogged down in pointless arguments," Shepard jumped in on the momentary silence.

"And how long it takes for Empire to actually realize it needs to change?" Ashley retorted as she realized she had lost ground. "The Alliance can recognize what works and what doesn't much sooner because people _will_ complain. We're not limited to single point of view from the current noble in charge, we've got people constantly working on things. We work on issues constantly, rather than wait for someone to come along and fix them!"

"Oh, right, just like you have been 'fixing'", Shepard made air quotes, "the Human Situation or reparations to L2 biotics by spending more time arguing over the most pointless things," Shepard shot back.

"Those 'pointless' arguments are there to prevent future arguments. Just smashing our two governments together, forcing other to bend the knee is just bound to cause more trouble in the future," Ashley said.

"Since when have I been using that argument - I said that I'm in favor of Emperor Baldwin's plan of joint representation!"

"And I would be fine with an alliance or some sort of agreement to handle that," Ashley responded, "but our governments should stay separate. They're just too incompatible, full social mobility against distinct tiers. It'd be like trying to fit our society into the Turian Hierarchy - who ends up where? Who decides who is a commoner and who's a noble?"

"Deciding that would be part of the process of integrating governments, if that course occurred."

"But it's basically picking people based on potentially non-related traits. You thought I was some sort of noble or equivalent because of my grandfather being a general. That's a position he earned by skill, not because of his bloodline."

Shepard raised her eyebrow, giving Ashley a quizzical look. "And you think the Empire would not take skill into account?"

"Oh I'm sure it would, but the skill of a parent does not mean that the kids are automatically going to be able to do the same things. Just because the parents are farmers doesn't mean that their kid is going to have a masterful skill for farming," she pushed herself off the railing and turned to face Shepard fully. "And then you have to consider how people are going to react to that. I mean, the Empire deciding who's a commoner and who's a noble either means completely putting the Alliance under the Empire since we don't _have_ a nobility system, or you end up picking whoever's up top right now and hope for the best."

"And the Alliance's system doesn't already do that - the children of those up top have a better shot at staying there than those below?" Shepard turned to face her, releasing her grip on the railing.

"I'm not saying that full social mobility means everyone gets to exactly where they deserve to go, but it's a much better measuring stick then who gave birth to who."

"There is mobility in the Empire, though. Aristocrats are usually drawn from commoners who do exactly what you said: showing that they earned the rank, and aristocratic titles don't pass down. If I had a son, he wouldn't automatically be a knight. A noble, maybe, but he would have to earn a knightly title."

"Great, but that still leaves a lot of people sitting in the low ranks," Ashley folded her arms. "And if the Empire just came in and said, 'You, you're a noble and you, you're a commoner'," she pointed with right hand randomly as she made her case, "do you really think people would sit by and accept that, just being classified into a system completely foreign to them with some being elevated and others being left to languish?"

"Do you really think that the terms wouldn't include a solution to try and avoid that?"

"No, but you can bet that people are going to see it like that. Especially if it involves force or being chosen just by the Emperor."

"Why do you think that we would use force? Just because theocracies on Earth used force, which we had nothing to do with…" Shepard clenched her hand into a fist.

"No, this isn't attributing things the Empire had nothing to do with. Titus was the one to 'welcome' the Alliance, he set the tone, a tone of the Empire wanting to absorb the Alliance. And he set a tone that made any sort of unification in the sense the Empire wants impossible," Ashley shook her head as someone walked up to them, an asari of surprising beauty and with the regal grace that felt straight out of heroic fantasy.

"Your differences are what makes you who you are, but the potential that you could achieve will only be seen if you can work together," the asari said, staring between the two of them as she spoke with a calm strength. "Alone, both of you and your nations could achieve great things for the galaxy. But to do something even greater, even more lasting, you have to cast aside your differences and work together. Become one state, perhaps, or perhaps not. But the strong will bolstered by faith paired with the sheer determination and ambition of newcomers can change the galaxy… if you can learn to work together."

Ashley and Shepard were both staring dumbfounded as the asari walked off to the other side of the Presidium and a familiar turian walked up to them and they turned to see who it was.

"Who was that?" Ashley asked in confusion as she felt her gut clench up in fear as she saw Nihlus standing in front of them with Kaidan on his flank carrying a black object.

"That," Nihlus explained, "was Shi'ira, better known as the Consort."

"Um, how long were you watching?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"From the start," Nihlus answered. "I had Lieutenant Alenko grab the formal parts of your attire," he nodded and Kaidan passed the cloak to Shepard. "I would think about what Shi'ira said, though. Most people only look at the physical gifts she can provide… but her real gift is a gift of words," he glanced across the Presidium towards an area that was opposite of the embassies. "A gift of words is perhaps the most valuable thing she can give."

Ashley and Shepard looked at each other awkwardly as Shepard slipped the cloak on. The small crowd that was watching them dispersed quickly with the show over and not a C-Sec officer in sight.

"Come along," Nihlus ordered, "the Council is waiting for you and the sooner this is done, the better."

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**End Chapter**

**Authors' Notes:**_ While the story of Mass Effect is used, the argument that ended this chapter is probably a clear example of what is going to end up being the meat of the story. This is what we really wanted, the culture clash between the Alliance and Empire and how the Alliance and the people who make it react to that. Another major part of it is how the galaxy changed - as you may have noticed, neither the Alliance or Empire are close to a Council seat and the Alliance's struggle is different than it had in the original timeline. So, while certainly we are following the story of the original, it is not simply a rehash of the game most of us here have played._

_The argument between Ashley and Shepard, highlighting the cultural clash, was probably one of the hardest parts to write, as it was a fine line between a heated debate and the two being completely hostile to each other. But while the hardest, it was also one of the most satisfying parts once completed, in great part thanks to Teen Spirit for quality checking it._

_Thank you to Alec McDowell, Endrius, Illuviar, and ww1990ww for their reviews and feedback._

_Also, for those who are interested, Luke Danger's profile now has links for some secondary work such as Shepard's general appearance and the heraldry for Shepard's house._

_As always, Codex Entries for those who want to read them. These in particular are mostly focused on the social structure of the Empire, given their importance in the argument ending this chapter._

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**Codex: Social Contracts - Nobles**

Nobles are the people who have the main power in the Star Empire, almost always born into the position. There are three recognized Noble positions: Archdukes, who rule a star system. Dukes, who rule a planet. And finally Barons, who control sectors on the planet. Each Noble is a member of a Noble House, a collection of noble relatives.

Nobles own the lands given to them by the Emperor and most Nobles hold at least one of the "lower" ranks, usually their capital fief. However, Nobles are not allowed to hold multiple same tier titles or have fiefs beyond their highest title. This is to prevent facturing the lands into a complicated patchwork of loyalties as was seen on Earth before their abduction. An Archduke is not allowed to have Duke or Baron tier titles in other star systems, only in the star system he is granted. Nor is a Duke or Baron allowed to hold titles outside their superior's realm, with exceptions granted by the Imperial Administration.

The nobility is stressed in the Faith of Abraham as having a responsibility to their lessers, _Noblesse Oblige_, which is the basis for much of the Empire's social contract. This concept, translating into 'Nobility Obliges', stresses that while the nobility are born into a higher social status and thus have more luxury, it is also their responsibility to go beyond mere entitlement and enter the social world as a leader and care for their lessers by using their higher social status to learn the needed knowledge to guide the masses.

**Codex: Social Contracts - Aristocrats**

Beneath the nobility of the Star Empire lie Aristocrats. Aristocrats are an assortment of "lesser" nobles, who do not belong to any particular House and whose titles can not be passed down. These are Knights, Mayors, Patricians, Clerics and assortment of other titles. These are titles anyone can earn, as long as they are a citizen of the Star Empire. As such, a commoner who starts a business and gains great achievements might be granted a title of Patrician. While his title will not automatically pass to his successor, if his successor continues the good work it is likely that he too will be granted the title of Patrician, creating a semi-inheritance.

Aristocrats are usually considered the highest that a commoner can achieve on his or her own, as actually earning a noble title is a difficult process and requires great deeds that few can achieve. As such, while theoretically a commoner can become an aristocrat and then earn a noble title, such is the exception rather than the rule.

**Codex: Social Contracts - Commoners**

Commoners are the last tier and make the majority of the Star Empire. Technically, everyone outside Star Empire are held as Commoners, but in practice people are treated as either Commoners or Aristocrats depending their position. Although on the surface they appear to be lowly held by galactic standards, Commoners are not mere tools for the nobility as they effectively were on Earth as a result of the Faith of Abraham emphasizing a strong, socially tiered structure where all know their place as well as _noblesse oblige_, the concept of nobles being responsible for their lessers.

However, although Commoners do not hold as much power as Nobles or Aristocrats, they are protected by Social Contracts formed between them and their superiors. In cases of misconduct committed by their superiors, Commoners can bring their grievances to Imperial Administration, one of the few organizations where Commoners held equal power to Nobles. While many Commoners are willing to take a certain level of punishment or additional hardship for the greater glory of the Star Empire, they also are willing to make their feelings known as unlike their forefathers from Earth, their voices will be heard. As such, abuse of them becomes known to the Administration.

**Codex: Social Contracts - Imperial Administration**

Thanks to near instantaneous communication, Commoners can quickly bring their grievances to the Imperial Administration, a houseless organization which answers only to the Emperor, which oversees the matter of grievances and consists of both commoners and nobles, making it a relatively unbiased legal and investigative arm for the Empire. It is also responsible for historical record within the Empire, though there has been discussion of creating an alternative organization to uphold this task in order to permit the Administration to focus on the matter of upholding the law and contracts.

When a grievance is reported, the Imperial Administration will investigate the claim and take necessary actions based on their investigations, ranging from verbal warning to the Noble and reparations to offended party all the way to stripping the Noble of his position. Imperial Administration officers also deal with cases when inheritance causes a Noble to claim lands beyond their assigned fief. In these cases, Administration can grant temporal rule of the lands - a stewardship - and split the lands later between successors or in extreme cases strip the Noble House of the claim and return the lands to the Emperor directly, who will grant the lands to someone new. However, most of the time they prefer temporal rule and stewardship until a successor is chosen - often younger children in noble houses who otherwise may not have had a fief - as a way of being polite and not disregarding a Noble House's efforts.

The Imperium Administration is also responsible for overseeing the Star Empire's fleet, ensuring that this critical organization remains houseless and in the command of the emperor. While there are those who dislike these political officers, the Administration is relatively hands off most of the time and their representatives on fleet vessels are trained in performing various tasks on board a ship beyond simply ensuring the politics are straight and narrow. While disliked by some, they are respected within the fleet for at least trying to pull their own weight.


	5. Priority: The Citadel

As the two Alliance Marines, a Knight Hospitaller, and a turian Spectre walked out of the elevator, they could hear an argument at the top of the stairs ahead.

"I got data that could prove Saren's guilt - it got intercepted, I just need enough time to recover it! Stall them so I can get a squad, march into the Wards, and take it back!" a turian was arguing loudly ahead at the top of the stairs.

"_Stall the Council_?!" another turian shot back in shock, "Don't be ridiculous. You're going to have to wait for a warrant like any good C-Sec officer would. I won't say this again, Vakarian," the second turian, wearing a uniform with enough dress to clue them in that he was high ranking, walked away as the group climbed the stairs, leaving the first one standing there. Suddenly, he stopped and turned around, "And if I hear of you taking this into your own hands, your career in C-Sec is over! This is your last warning."

Ashley had always distrusted turians, but she had never seen one frustrated before. This turian had blue face paint, unlike Nihlus who had a stark white pattern on his face that contrasted with his darker carapace. The turian C-Sec officer turned to the group and folded his arms, a sniper rifle poking out from his back holster. "Commander Williams, Sir Shepard, Spectre Kryik, Lieutenant... Alenko," he said addressing the group. "I'm Garrus Vakarian, I was the C-Sec officer in charge of the investigation."

"I take it C-Sec is sitting on the red tape again," Nihlus said, folding his arms and glaring in the direction the other turian had walked away in.

"Yes, but I don't understand why. I had a solid lead - we were getting a data packet that contained information the Council had to see, but someone intercepted it once our tip VI flagged it. I just need enough time to go down there and recover it! It's not like I'm trying to knock a C-Sec officer off - it's a Spectre! Why is the Executor so hostile about it?"

The three humans looked at each other in confusion as Nihlus answered. "Executor Pallin has always stuck by the rules. He has never been one to skip them, what was that thing he said... Rules are there to protect people, to ensure due process?"

"I don't know, but how am I supposed to do my job, if I have to wait weeks to get someone who has no idea of the situation to stamp a hardcopy?" Vakarian answered before glancing behind him. "Hopefully the Council will listen to you. Good luck in there."

"Thanks," Ashley said as they moved on, unable to shake the feeling that the stairs were for more than show, as she could see good firing positions if the place was attacked at them. Anderson was waiting for them as they reached the last set of stairs that lead to the actual meeting chamber.

"Come on, the hearing is just about to begin," Anderson said, leading the group up the stairs. Three Councilors and a hologram of Saren were waiting for them.

"I see the ground team has arrived just on time. Very good," Tevos said, nodding at the other Councilors. "This hearing, regarding the Systems Alliance's accusation of Spectre Saren Arterius is hereby officially in process. Ambassador Udina, please present your case."

"Thank you, Councilor," Udina said, nodding at the Council. "Two days ago, the colony of Eden Prime was attacked by the geth and an alien race we have now identified as the 'Collectors', a term given by the people in the Terminus Systems. Spectre Arterius was seen on site, during the attack, despite his official reports claiming that he was carrying out a mission elsewhere. Furthermore, his name does not appear on any report of arrivals."

"_When you are working undercover, you generally do not openly declare yourself a Spectre," _Saren cut in. _"I followed a lead, which required me to be remain unknown."_

"Please wait until the ambassador has made his case," Tevos said, raising her hand while looking at Saren. She returned her gaze back to Udina and nodded.

"Numerous disparancies with his claims have been uncovered by our investigations and furthermore, we have a testimony of him collaborating with the invaders," Udina continued. He stopped for a moment before making his final statement. "As such, the Systems Alliance seeks justice to be carried out and Spectre Artenius to be stripped of his rank and handed to the Alliance for a trial."

"Thank you, Ambassador," Sparatus said, "Spectre Saren, what do you plead?"

"_These accusations are unfounded, merely an attempt to cover up the incompetence of the Alliance and their inability to defend their own colonies!"_ Saren countered immediately, _"During the assault, I assisted Alliance troops in securing the beacon, before heading to the dig site where I met Nihlus."_

"Spectre Kryik, can you confirm this?" Councilor Sparatus asked, turning to Nihlus, who nodded.

"Yes. Spectre Arterius said he had come to help the archaeologists as well as claimed to be have people guarding the beacon," Nihlus said, "However, I do not believe that the beacon was lost due to incompetence. I have submitted my reports and my comments on the mission."

"You did note that several mistakes were done during the mission, Spectre Kryik. How do you explain them?" Councilor Valern asked, though he seemed to be more going through the motions rather than being accusatory.

"We all have the benefit of hindsight. For example, the team could not have anticipated that the geth were deploying new weapons, such as the creatures we have codenamed husks. Furthermore, these... Collectors, posed an unknown threat. To her credit, Commander Williams carried out her duties despite these challenges."

"_And yet she lost the beacon. By her own admission she triggered it."_

Ashley bit her tongue to avoid letting the turian have it and Nihlus responded. "If anyone is to blame for that, it's me for not dealing with the nukes and geth defenders fast enough-"

"Spectre Kryik," Ashley cut in, "you had to disable the nukes or none of us would even be standing here talking about it."

He turned and looked at her in surprise before shaking his head. "Correct, but I still should have forwarded you relevant information or warning signs before we parted ways."

"As you said, Spectre Kryik," Councilor Valern cut in as he folded his arms, "we have the benefit of hindsight."

"_And why was Williams in charge anyways?"_ Saren asked, _"Surely, Nihlus, you knew better than that."_

"That was my suggestion," Anderson cut in. "The intent was to provide less diplomatic incident material."

"And I approved the suggestion," Nihlus added, "as he was right. Having the Lieutenant-Commander lead the mission made sense as it was Alliance territory."

"_And so the Alliance once again trusted a Williams to defend their colony and paid the price?"_

Ashley couldn't hold it back anymore. "With all due respect, Spectre Arterius," she was about to unload into him about how he would of been unable to do better before remembering the warning from Udina and paused a moment to change gears, leaving a brief silence on the whole meeting. "It's easy to say what could and should not have been done. I made mistakes, I'm only human," for some reason Udina facepalmed, "but I'm here answering for that. I've got nothing to hide."

"Simple, but well put," Tevos said with a nod. Kaidan was raising an eyebrow at Ashley before shrugging.

"_And yet it was because of you that the beacon was lost, as well as any lives that could have been saved from the knowledge within, any technological advances that we could have benefited from: lost."_

Shepard cut in this time. "If this beacon was so critical, why did you leave it to the Alliance soldiers instead of protecting it yourself, regardless of your belief in their competence? You knew we would be coming soon after to secure it. You claimed to need to disable anti-aircraft that the geth had set up, but why did it have to go down immediately instead of waiting for us to arrive and further secure the beacon?"

"A good question, actually," Udina admitted in surprise as he rubbed his chin.

"_Because I expected that the Alliance would have a level of competence in its men that they could handle defending a simple starport, and the sooner that the beacon was airlifted out of the area, the sooner such an important artifact would be safe from harm."_

"So how'd the soldiers you left die by headshots, then?" Ashley shot back, "Those husks at the beacon - they weren't shot up first in a firefight, they were executed," the crowd murmured at the implication and Udina glared at her.

"_Forensics is rather unclear as to the exact cause of death. Something to do with… oh," _Saren's tone was just short of outright mockery, _"shotgun blasts and several being covered in plasma from a canister that exploded?"_

"Not all were covered in plasma, and the shotgun blasts were accounted for in the report and we still have helmet camera footage confirming that," Anderson chimed in. "The headshot holes were filled with cybernetics, unlike the holes in the chest from being taken out."

Saren paused, then nodded._ "That only proves someone shot them in the head. Perhaps there was a traitor in their ranks who shot them in the head, or perhaps the headshots were simply because the geth wished to ensure they remained dead before turning them into those husks you reported. That's all you have against me - barely tangential evidence, a deranged dockworker, and a prothean beacon with all knowledge within lost as proof. Hardly a case of legend."_

"Not all the knowledge of the beacon was lost," Anderson chimed in. "Before the beacon exploded, it uploaded some sort of vision into Sir Shepard here."

"_Are we allowing dreams into the evidence now? How am I supposed to defend against that?"_ Saren sounded completely incredulous at the idea.

"He's right, Captain," Shepard said, turning to Anderson. "I don't know what it is - random information or something from the beacon itself - but it had nothing to do with Saren. Something to save for the scientists to argue over in a lab."

"Thank you, Sir Shepard," Sparatus said with a nod. "That is a matter for another time."

"As to the evidence towards Saren himself, however, do you have any further proof besides the submitted reports and what has been discussed?" Councilor Tevos asked. The crowd was silent as all eyes fell on Udina.

"No, Councilor," Udina admitted dejectedly.

The Councilors looked at each other, ending with Tevos and Valern looking at Sparatus, who shook his head. The Councilors turned to their consoles and entered in their verdict to the bated breath among those assembled.

"While there is cause to investigate this matter further, there is insufficient proof to convict Spectre Arterius of these charges. The motion against him has failed."

"_Justice, at last. Now, perhaps, we can move onto a matter of candidates who may not be as good as promised…"_

"The evaluation of candidates is not a matter of this hearing, Spectre Arterius," Valern pointed out. "Furthermore, any considerations of competence and qualifications fall upon Spectre Kryik to consider. Spectre Kryik, do you stand by your statement that the candidates acted upon their best ability in the situation?"

"Completely," Nihlus answered as he looked at Saren and narrowed his eyes. The hologram of the turian paused, then nodded quietly.

"_Then it seems I need to return to the business of protecting the galaxy, rather than answering false accusations,"_ the hologram vanished.

"Spectre Kryik, you mentioned you want to continue the evaluations without a pause to account for the results of the mission. Are you sure about this?" Sparatus asked Nihlus after a moment.

"Yes, Councilor. I believe that the evaluations can proceed as planned, as long as the Alliance continues providing us the vessel as per the agreement," Nihlus turned to the two and gave them a slight nod.

"Ambassador Udina?" Councilor Valern asked Udina who was gripping the rail so tightly that his knuckles were almost white.

"The Alliance... will uphold the agreement," Udina said, releasing his grip and schooling his face to a neutral expression. "Spectre Kryik and Sir Shepard are welcome to remain onboard the _Normandy_."

"Then this hearing is over. The Council shall retire," Tevos said, as the Councilors turned to leave. Udina remained standing for a moment before walking back to the group and they all moved down the stairs to the lower level.

"Saren has his bases covered. We need to find something to convict him," Udina said immediately once they were down the flight of stairs.

"No proof of his guilt has been found so far, what makes you so sure there is any?" Nihlus asked, joining the group and tilting his head towards the Alliance Ambassador.

"Because our investigations say he is guilty," Udina said, without turning to Nihlus, "Anderson, what the hell was that with the visions? Even with Shepard covering for you, it ate our credibility. It was a mistake to take you to the hearing."

"Look, rather than argue why Council does not believe us, how about we focus on how to prove Saren's guilt?" Anderson asked in annoyance. "I know there is a Shadow Broker agent in the Presidium. Maybe we could use his services?"

"Hmm... Perhaps, but the Council might question the information's credibility," Udina said, cupping his chin, "What about C-Sec?"

"We heard a turian, Garrus Vakarian, say something about evidence being intercepted," Ashley said, "We could ask him."

"You should do that. I can handle the Broker contact," Nihlus said.

"Why would you help us if you don't believe in his guilt?" Ashley asked, confused by Nihlus proposal.

"If he is guilty, then we should prove it. If he is not, the sooner you people stop wasting everyones time trying to nail him, the better," Nihlus said, with what Ashley swore was a grin, or at least the turian equivalent. "Both ways, the truth comes out and the matter is settled."

"Makes sense," Kaidan chimed in. "If he's innocent, we can stop. If he's guilty, we get him. Either way it's justice."

"You're rather accepting of the possibility, Lieutenant," Shepard said in surprise.

"I still think Saren's a war criminal, but if we are wrong it'd be best to be certain that we are rather than have it in the air," he shrugged.

"That's my line of thought," Nihlus answered. "Just from the opposite end. But I'll talk to the local Shadow Broker agent, I don't want any of you ending up in debt with him before you're Spectres and able to legally do any deals you need to make."

"Uh, thanks?" Ashley said as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm guessing the Broker demands high prices?"

"Often," Anderson explained. "But if you need information, the Broker - whoever he, she, it, or they is or are - has contacts everywhere. Bit of a necessary evil for galactic politics."

"The C-Sec officer is still the better route," Udina said as he folded his arms as people loitering the Council chambers were looking towards the rather large gathering. "Contact Officer Harkin, Commander, he should be able to find where this Garrus Vakarian is."

"Bah, I don't trust him," Anderson snorted. "He's a terrible excuse for a cop - I can't believe we're still letting his firing sit in red tape limbo."

"And once again you prove why it was a mistake to bring you in for the trial…" Udina muttered in annoyance. "Besides, Harkin is well versed and he's more likely to talk then a C-Sec officer at the academy. They would just write a memo and let it sit until the officer you're looking for finds it."

"Based on his reactions to the Executor and his last remark," Nihlus cut in, "I'd say he's about to do something about the evidence, so we don't have time to wait for him to get a note."

"Alright, I'll go for Harkin then," Ashley said as she glanced to Shepard and Kaidan. "You two coming with me?"

"Gladly," Kaidan answered.

"You didn't even need to ask," Shepard answered as she folded her arms, obscuring the crest on her tunic.

"Good. You three go find Harkin, he should be lingering in Chora's Den," Udina said with a nod. "Anderson, you'll come with me. There'll be a lot of paperwork to handle and as the _Normandy_'s Captain you will need to sign much of it."

"Very well, Ambassador," the captain shook his head and looked to the team. "Be careful, though. Harkin is a menace, and Saren may take matters into his own hands to cover his bases further."

"That remains to be seen," Nihlus answered before shrugging and glancing between Ashley and Shepard briefly before nodding to himself. "I'll contact you if I have any leads that I need help with or if it will be useful to you. I'll send a nav point to Chora's Den and a few other major locations in the Wards to your omni-tools. Head out as soon as you make any preparations needed."

"Understood," Ashley answered with a nod, and the turian Spectre walked away.

"Come, Captain," Udina said, "We have a lot of work to do and things to discuss," the two followed Nihlus towards the elevator and left the three alone.

Ashley glanced to the others. "Any preparations?"

"Just want to drop the cloak off," Shepard said, tugging at it.

"Some extra medi-gel might be a good idea," Kaidan added.

"We can grab some at the embassy while dropping of Shepard's cloak, then it's down to the Wards."

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After a short detour to embassy (where Udina and Leonidas were arguing over some detail about jurisdictions with an amused Anderson standing to the side), the group was waiting for the elevator to take them to the Citadel Wards.

"So, who should we talk to first to find this Harkin?" Shepard asked. Ashley merely shrugged.

"Ambassador Udina said that he was at Chora's Den," she said. "Based on the Captain's reaction to him, he's probably spending a lot of time there."

"What is Chora's Den anyways?" Kaidan asked curiously as they stepped into the elevator.

"Some, uh, 'gentleman club' down in the Wards," Shepard said as she looked at her omni-tool. "At least that's what I'm getting from the navpoint Nihlus sent us."

"Charming," Kaidan said as the elevator came to a stop and opened. The three paused as they came into the crowded area and stared out to a vista past the crowd and stretching far into the distance, slowly walking over to the railing. The three humans were quickly leaning against it, looking out into the view as turian cruisers were making their rounds across the station, and the _Destiny Ascension_ was at one of the distant arms, and they took in the vista before them.

"Big place," Kaidan whispered out as they looked out and the sheer scale of the Citadel hit them.

"That your professional opinion, LT?" Ashley teased, though she still felt absolutely tiny when she saw how big the Citadel really was.

"He's right, though," Shepard said as she looked out at the Citadel. "This isn't just some space station like the Codex says, it's a city."

"There must be millions here!" Kaidan exclaimed, still audibly reeling from the sight. "There's no way even the STG would be able to track everyone coming and going."

"It does makes Ezekiel Station look like an outhouse," Shepard chimed in, "And considering that spacedock was meant for building the new _Barbossa_ class, it's probably the largest station the Empire has."

"Yeah, and Jump Zero's a port-a-john," Ashley said as she looked over the railing, wondering if she would be able to spit over the side.

"Jump Zero's big alright, but I don't think anything humanity could put together would compare to the sheer scale," he was leaning on the railing and gestured towards one of the distant arms where the _Destiny Ascension_ was. "Look at those Ward arms! How do they keep that much mass from flying apart?"

"No wonder the Council is so eager to have us figure out our issues," Shepard said as she looked towards them. "The Council is responsible for so much, so many people," she shook her head. "They can't tell you the scale of the galaxy from a textbook; you have to see it here to really appreciate it."

"Yeah, exactly," Kaidan said as he took a step back. "This is the scale where a rounding error could lead to mass starvation, never mind a major tip in the political balance of power. If either the Alliance or Empire got a Council seat, or even both of us, then everything changes dramatically."

"I think I'm starting to understand why the Empire was never able to get a Council seat," Shepard said. "You're right, tipping the balance of power in any major way could have huge repercussions."

"And we bring our own problems," Kaidan added as he looked down over the railing. "Keeping all these cultures working together has to be difficult. No wonder why they're so worried about us, all of us. We're just more of the same on a larger scale."

"We do offer a challenge that the Council's structure wasn't built for," Shepard admitted. "But looking out here… makes our problems seem smaller. Like they have bigger matters then our disagreement of the month."

Ashley rubbed her chin thoughtfully before leaning back on the railing and bitterly adding, "Or maybe they just don't like humans."

"Why not?" Kaidan asked with a cheeky grin. "We've got oceans, beautiful women, this emotion called love… ask all the old vids and we've got everything they want."

"If you expect to get me in a tinfoil miniskirt and thigh high boots, I want dinner first," Ashley immediately shot back as Shepard was staring at Kaidan in confusion. Ashley paused, mortification crossing her face and body temperature rising before she turned her head back towards the sight before them and added, "Lieutenant."

"I can't see you dressed up for a gala with all the other ladies of court, Williams," Shepard commented with a sly grin.

"Uh, damn straight you can't, knight," Ashley shot back before curling her lips. "Betcha you'd be a damn near Disney."

"Disney?" Shepard asked in confusion as Kaidan snickered.

"Well, good to know there's no reason the aliens wouldn't like you two. Uh," he rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, like us. Humans."

Ashley and Shepard looked at each other with raised eyebrows before Shepard finally shrugged. "Alright Commander, I'll walk drag."

Kaidan did not look wholly unappreciative of the idea as they moved on.

Continuing their way towards Chora's Den, they came across the local market. Ashley noted that unlike in Alliance territories, one could openly buy weapons out in the open, as well as mods for them. There were also a few people selling biotic amps and omni-tool upgrades. While heading towards the stairs that would take them to the lower level, they heard a shout.

"_*hiss* _Sir Shepard! _*hiss*_ Over here!" the unmistakable voice of a volus called for them. Pausing and glancing to Shepard, the group turned around and walked towards the volus that hailed them.

"How can we help you?" Shepard asked, somewhat uncertainly.

"You do not recognize me, Sir Shepard? _*hiss*_ You wound me," the volus said, though Ashley was sure that if she could see it, the volus would be grinning.

"Sorry, no," Shepard shook her head. "I hope I don't offend you, but how do you know me?"

"_*hiss*_ One tends to remember a kid _*hiss* _that tried to claim a shipment of toys, _*hiss*_ by claiming to be the Imperial Consort," the volus responded. Shepard turned red, which was a quite a feat with her darker complexion, before facepalming.

"Hi, Expat. You planned to embarrass me all this time?" Shepard said, despite having a smile on her face.

"Actually, _*hiss* _I was running an errand for your mother. _*hiss* _She sent you a package. _*hiss* _I planned to drop it by the embassy, _*hiss* _since they would know your whereabouts, _*hiss* _but then I saw you walking by," the volus said, reaching down below the counter and pulling out a box. Shepard opened it and pulled a black tabard with a white a Maltese Cross on it - the Hospitaller's insignia.

"Huh, I was actually planning to ask the Order for more, my last one got torn," she said, putting the tabard down and looking down the box and pulling out another tabard.

This one was different. It was divided into four sections, with upper-left and bottom-right corners colored yellow, with other two colored blue. On yellow, there were blue crescent moons, both facing to the center. On blue, there were yellow lions, also facing to the center.

"I can understand a black tabard on the battlefield," Ashley said as she tilted her head to look at it, "but yellow and blue?"

"Family heraldry," Shepard answered, putting the tabards away, "they are used when I am at home. The House Guard does use them, though. Besides, what was that on _Normandy_ about white-on-pink?"

"Point taken," Ashley nodded as she curled her lip.

"You might still want to take them to the embassy," Shepard added, turning to Expat. "Tell them to forward them to the ship I'm currently based on. I am running an errand at the moment, so..."

"I understand, _*hiss*_ Take care of yourself, Shepard-Clan," Expat said, putting the box away.

"You too, Expat."

"The Imperial Consort?" Kaidan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was four, okay? I didn't know better."

"And I thought little girls back home were bad about playing princess," he grinned widely, leaving Shepard rolling her eyes as they headed down the stairs. Just as they were about to step off the stairs, Kaidan ran into a scarred and burly krogan who had just turned the corner, landing on his backside.

"Watch where you're going, human," the krogan rumbled.

"Sorry," Kaidan apologized, picking himself off the floor.

"Hmph," the krogan snorted and continued off.

"Krogan," Shepard muttered as they continued their way. "Just because you can take an anti-tank round to the face and still beat the crap out of a team of knights does not mean you can just ignore everyone," Ashley and Kaidan both raised an eyebrow at Shepard before shrugging and moving on down the stairs to their destination.

"So, I wonder what kind of 'club' Chora's Den is," Ashley asked curiously as the tunnel opened to a blue lit alleyway leading up to it and she saw three suspicious looking turians ahead.

"That's them, the Eden Prime team, let's go!" one of the turians said just a bit too loudly and all three were suddenly drawing sidearms.

"_Cover!"_ Ashley and Shepard shouted simultaneously as all three of them threw themselves forward, the kinetic barriers in their outfits reacting to the incoming fire, but the barriers they had were far weaker than those in their proper hardsuits, and the flash from Shepard's indicated hers had gone out entirely. All three drew their pistols and were crouching behind the solid fence opposite of the gunmen, Shepard on Ashley's left and Kaidan on her right.

"Pick a target and let 'em have it, I got the middle one," Ashley ordered. Shepard opened her mouth to retort, then nodded and began glowing with biotic energy. The three rose out of cover and simultaneously attacked the turians. Ashley aimed for the middle turian, hitting him in the head with three headshots, the first two taking out his kinetic barriers and the third putting a hole right in his mouth. Kaidan meanwhile grabbed one of the turians with his biotics, lifting him into the air before hurling him into the chasm below. The last one was biotically grabbed by Shepard, and was tugged towards the knight and the turian only had just enough time to swear loudly before a biotic punch connected with his midsection and blew him into the opposite fence before the broken remains fell into the chasm below.

"What the hell was that?" Kaidan asked as they holstered their pistols.

"Saren's men," Shepard answered as she grit her teeth. "No other explanation - they identified us as the team on Eden Prime."

Kaidan nodded. "Great, and now we have to wait for C-Sec to get here…"

"Bad idea," Ashley said as they crossed over to the turian that she had killed. Kaidan activated his omni-tool and aimed it at the turian as they approached him. The turian was staring towards the ceiling above blankly, his mouth blown open by Ashley's shot.

"Why?" Kaidan asked as he started activating his omni-tool's call function, "We just got attacked."

"And if Saren's smart, he'll have more assassins after us. If we wait for C-Sec, we'll probably get attacked again. Or worse, Saren will have them arrest us."

"I'm not really comfortable with the idea of dodging C-Sec, we just had a firefight on the Citadel…" Kaidan's hand was just over the button to confirm his call.

"Hang on," Shepard said as she activated her omni-tool. "Spectre Kryik, do you copy? This is Sir Shepard," she nodded to the others and they activated their omni-tools, syncing with Shepard's call.

"_Nihlus here; I copy. Anything to report?"_ Nihlus answered several seconds later.

"We just got attacked by three turian gunmen," Ashley explained, "right outside of Chora's Den. All three are dead."

"Do you want us to wait for C-Sec?" Kaidan asked.

"_That's a negative, Lieutenant. Do not get C-Sec involved. I'll use my authority to label the incident that just happened as a Spectre matter - get to Harkin and find Vakarian. I'll meet up with you as soon as I can. Too sensitive to discuss on an open channel."_

"Understood," Shepard answered.

"_Good. Nihlus out."_

"Well, this just gets better and better," Kaidan muttered as they switched their omni-tools off. "Assassins after us, a rogue Spectre, and we're now being told to not involve the police."

"As I said," Ashley answered as the three started walking towards Chora's Den, more alert now as they knew they might be attacked, "Saren could probably use C-Sec to frame us. Keep alert, LT, there's no telling -" the door opened and all three of them stopped in their tracks as they saw what was inside.

Darkly lit and with club music pulsing in the background, it was clear just what kind of gentleman was referred to when Chora's Den was referred to as a gentleman's club. It was no posh restaurant with classical music, but a dimly lit hive of lust luring those who entered to partake in baser pleasures and emotions. Asari and human women were dancing on poles or platforms above in revealing outfits while drinks were being served liberally to the patrons at the bars.

Ashley sighed in annoyance. "A million light years from where humanity began, and we walk into a bar of men staring at half-naked women shaking their asses on a stage. I can't tell if that's funny or sad."

"What, you don't think they're here for the food? Or the uh, view," Kaidan offered as he was very clearly trying to avoid looking up, mouth hanging open slightly.

"You really don't get out much, do you?" Shepard said, though even she was clearly surprised at the place they had walked into.

"Come on, let's find Harkin and get out of here," Ashley muttered as they began picking their way through the crowd. Despite what video games and fiction would have one believe, finding a person you do not know is a lot harder in a crowded place then just walking to a waypoint. And with all the clientele present, they were standing out far more than they wanted to, but the cast of characters within was quite colorful. A krogan bouncer, an angry looking batarian sitting in front of a dancing human women on a table, a pair of salarian businessmen, even a turian general, based on his outfit.

"Why, you imbecile," the turian muttered angrily to himself, "why Shi'ira?"

"Hard to see a general upset over some woman," Kaidan muttered as they passed the general.

"That's because you don't understand women, Lieutenant," Ashley answered back more harshly than she intended as a pair of young men were wolf whistling as they looked in her direction. _Pervs,_ she thought as she kept forcing herself to look through the bad crowd they were in. "This isn't working, either Harkin's not here or…"

"Well well!" a loud voice from a table a half meter to the side said as a bald human looking to be in his forties said as he looked at them with a shit eating grin. "The Williams family finally turns traitor and joins the bible thumpers!"

"What on Earth are you babbling about?" Ashley asked angrily as the three walked over and she put her fists on the table in front of him, staring him down.

"What, you're flanked by a freaking knight. Maybe you just like cosplaying instead?"

"What a diplomat," Kaidan muttered in disbelief as Shepard simply folded her arms.

"Or maybe you decided that your grandfather had the right idea about entertaining the idea of joining the Empire. Man, that'll be a story. The heroines of Eden Prime - one's a knight, the other's an Alliance soldier… together they both go to church and the former converts the latter!" Harkin chuckled as he looked at Shepard. "How about you, princess? Find a good prince charming yet? This fishbone looks too common for that," he nodded towards Kaidan.

"And that 'fishbone' has more honor than you'll ever dream of," Shepard shot back, "But what's with you and badmouthing the Lieutenant-Commander's family?"

"Probably just bullshit about Shanxi," Ashley answered, having performed the song and dance over the issue dozens of times before. "Not important."

"Oh, you mean you don't know?" Harkin chuckled darkly, attracting her attention. "Oh this is rich. I figured the reason it's not public knowledge was because the Alliance clamped down on it, but your own family not telling you?" Harkin stretched his arms and put his hands behind his head, leaning back in the chair. "You never knew that your grandfather - hell, probably your parents too - seriously considered joining the Empire? I'm surprised. They made him a hell of an offer. Probably would have ended up part of that nobility of theirs - a damn straight blue blood as the first human to abandon reason for religion!"

"Oh great, an asshole atheist," Kaidan muttered in annoyance, "like we need another shit storm…"

"Bullshit," Ashley said as she leaned forward, struggling to avoid simply slugging him across the face. "I'm loyal to the Alliance, like my father before me and my grandfather, all the way to my great-grandmother. We all swore the Oath of Service."

"Well, so much for your big family history of service. I'm surprised, but I guess your paps decided that you might as well not know that the Williams family was always traitor material," he leaned forward and turned his head slightly as he looked at Ashley. "See, after Shanxi the Alliance was pressing charges against your grandfather. After all, the turians did just sweep in and take a colony."

"Put up a bigger fight than you ever could," she shot back as putting a black mark on his eye was becoming more and more attractive.

"Maybe. But after all was said and done, you know the story. He got shipped in irons back to Earth and charges were being drawn up. After all, someone had to hang for that embarrassment, might as well be the guy who lead us into that," he looked at Shepard. "Then Miss Imperial's emperor decided it was a good time to start courting him - no, not like that, but to get him to defect."

"My grandfather was a loyal man, he wouldn't defect to the Empire," she paused, briefly glancing to Shepard, about to say no offense, before turning back to Harkin who simply shook his head. Who was this clown making big claims about _her_ family?

"Nope. In fact, the only reason he stayed Alliance was he was able to blackmail the brass into not only dropping the charges but making sure that you Williams could still serve. He could have become nobility in the Empire, given his own little fief and serfs in irons…"

"Commoners are _not_ slaves!" Shepard hotly answered as she clenched her fists and her left arm was moving forward, with Kaidan holding a hand out before it went too far.

"Whatever," the ex-cop continued unabated, "but he decided to instead blackmail the brass so that they gave him a good deal so he wouldn't go over and hand over all the Alliance's defense codes, intel, all the good stuff that could of let the Empire go on a nice crusade. So yeah, if he had just decided not to blackmail its quite possible it'd of been _two_ little imperial princesses walking in with prince charming over here."

"And you'd still be an ugly son of a bitch," Kaidan growled, Ashley both surprised but also enjoying the restrained venom he was putting into his voice. "Besides, we aren't here for your slander, speculation, and insults. Garrus Vakarian. Where is he?"

"Ah, information you want, eh?" Harkin said as he leaned back in his chair. Ashley stood back to her full height and looked down on him - all three of them did and doing that was no challenge from any perspective. It was particularly easy for her to look down on him as a person. "Yeah, Vakarian. Real cowboy, him. Roughing up suspects, playing it risky in hostage situations, a designated sniper for C-Sec… just the type for you guys to hang with. I know where he is. I'll even tell you for free."

"Why?" Shepard asked hotly. "You obviously don't like us."

"Because watching you all squirm as you try to put your fancy little paragon morality to the hard truth of reality was more than enough entertainment - almost enough to buy you all drinks. Now then, if you're looking for Garrus you should try the alley - big white tunnel, connects the Wards to the C-Sec academy lift near Flux and the markets. Ol' Garrus is planning on pissing the executor off royally and he's meeting a krogan who stormed out of here several minutes ago threatening to kill the big guy here."

"Alright, let's go," Shepard said with a nod and the three left far quicker than they had come in.

"And think about the truth, 'heroes'!" Harkin shouted after them, laughing away all the way until the doors to Chora's Den closed.

"You think it's true? What Harkin said about my grandfather?" Ashley asked as soon as they were outside, struggling with the idea. Her own grandfather blackmailing the Alliance brass? It was obviously false, but for some reason the idea was digging away at her. Like a thorn that she tried to pretend never pricked her. It just made too much sense no matter how much she wanted to just assume it was Harkin lying, it perfectly filled in gaps in her family history that she had always wondered about.

"It's certainly possible," Shepard said as she put a hand on her shoulder, which Ashley shook off. Sympathy from an imperial was not what she wanted for this kind of thing.

"Forget Harkin," Kaidan angrily snarled. "He's just trying to get under our skin. He probably made all that bullshit up on the fly. Besides, if it's really bugging you, you can ask Captain Anderson. He served at Shanxi, he would've been around for that. Or you could ask your mother; I doubt your grandfather would have considered such a big choice without talking to your parents."

Ashley nodded, taking a deep breath and putting her focus on the situation at hand. "Yeah, you're right. For now, though, we need to get to Garrus. I'll fill Nihlus in as we go," she activated her omni-tool and they moved out.

The group began to head back to the C-Sec academy, cutting through the route they had taken earlier before turning around near Flux nightclub. Nihlus had been filled in and said he would try to meet them. It did not take them to find a turian and a krogan talking - krogan and turians together stand out, particularly in empty, brightly lit alleyways.

"That's final. Do we have a deal or not?" the scarred krogan rumbled.

"Fine. I need that data," the turian responded with folded arms, clearly annoyed.

"Garrus Vakarian?" Ashley asked when they walked to them.

"Huh, what? That's me. Were you sent by... no wait, you're the Eden Prime ground team," Vakarian responded, turning to face them and unfolding his arms.

."

"Yes, that's us," Ashley confirmed. "Saren got off scot free, but we heard you had something on him."

"Doesn't surprise me..." Vakarian admitted as if it was not the first time. "I do have something, though. The tip line VI flagged something as a high priority to me and it never does that unless it's _very_ condemning. Yet, when the data was being transferred to me, someone intercepted it."

"So, how does a krogan factor into this?" Shepard asked, nodding at the krogan who was standing behind Vakarian.

"I tracked the data down to Chora's Den," Vakarian continued. The team took a quick glance towards each other at the name. "I tried to get Fist to give the data to me. He just showed me the door and I was outnumbered by his thugs. I needed help. Then I got a tip that Urdnot Wrex here was hired by Shadow Broker to take down Fist," Vakarian gestured to the krogan behind him.

"Fist did something stupid. He took data the Broker wanted, attracted attention, _and_ betrayed the Broker. You don't betray Broker," Wrex rumbled. "I was told to make him an example as to why."

"Hmm... We got attacked when we tried to approach Chora's Den earlier, to get info about your location," Ashley said. "We could help you to get that information."

"I dunno Commander..." Kaidan said, scratching his neck. "I mean, we would be assaulting a civilian location. Publicly, at that. Shouldn't this be C-Sec's job?"

"By the time C-Sec gets through the red tape we will have already died from the old age, Wrex included," Vakarian countered. "Besides, if he is using the Shadow Broker's tech to intercept the data, how long until he cracks the encryption and destroys the data?"

"Good point," Shepard said, nodding her head. "Besides, the Hospitallers always had an issue to Fist. We _know_ he deals with slavers, even if he does not deal in slaves. We just never could get any solid dirt on him. A chance to mess with his operations? Count me in," she said, tapping the pistol she was carrying.

"I guess I should come along then too... You guys are going to need someone to patch you up after you get shot up, at least until Chakwas can chew you out," Kaidan sighed.

"So... you're going to help me? You aren't worried about C-Sec?" Vakarian asked, his mandibles flaring in surprise.

"We got a Spectre backing us. He already told us to get the data, so anything we do, it's a Spectre job," Ashley said.

"Thus eliminating need for bureaucracy and allowing us to do what needs to be done. Nice," Vakarian said with a hint of admiration.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go bag us an idiot," Wrex said, reaching behind him and grabbing a shotgun that looked like a brick with a trigger.

"Hang on," Kaidan added quickly, "Shouldn't we contact Nihlus first? Confirm that we're a go for this? I know, better to ask forgiveness than permission, but… presuming Spectre authority might be crossing the line even if we are working with one."

"That won't be necessary, Lieutenant, though you are correct, " another voice cut in from the Wards side and the group turned to see Nihlus standing there with his shotgun in hand. "I can confirm Officer Vakarian's assertions that Fist stole the data - he has the goods on Saren."

"Spectre Kryik," Vakarian said, nodding. "I take it then that this operation is now under Spectre jurisdiction? Executor Pallin can't touch it?"

"He can complain to the Council," Nihlus admitted, "but that's it," he reached to his back to grab an assault rifle and passed it to Ashley. She took it and looked down the scope, the grip was not what she was used to, since it was a custom job meant for a turian's grip, but she could compensate. Based on the smell, it was newly modified, or perhaps repaired as he had lacked it on Eden Prime.

"Thanks," she said as she lowered it and finally recognizing as a Phaeston assault rifle.

"You don't have biotics, so you need some heavier firepower," he nodded to Shepard, who paused a moment before nodding in return. "Now then, we're going to need two teams. Vakarian, you're a designated marksman for C-Sec, right?"

"That I am," the other turian said as he deployed his sniper rifle.

"Good. I want you, Williams, and Alenko on overwatch and suppressive duty. Snipe out any big targets that pop up and keep them down so the rest of us can get in close, then follow us in."

"Don't worry about me," the krogan said confidently, "I won't need the cover."

"Good," Nihlus said with a nod as the squad did a weapons check. "Let's move."

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**End Chapter**

**Authors' Notes:** _That takes care of part two of the events on the Citadel. One more chapter will be coming up what happens on Citadel, before we head off to the galaxy at large._

_Also, a fun game for those who seek differences from the canon in the story: Try to find who is missing._

_We would like to thank ww1990ww, The Poarter, Hypastpist, TheDarkestNight33, and medchsta for their reviews._

_As for the Codex entries for this chapter, we have overviews of Star Empires military. While not directly discussed, we wanted to show these now._

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**Codex: Star Empire Military - Overview**

The Star Empire is perhaps the best galactic case study of tactics evolving. Without the years of pre-eezo limited space warfare due to their rapid uplift, the Star Empire's doctrines had many elements of their archaic skills translated into space. While the Empire did not use square blocks of infantry charging headlong into another block once they became the Star Empire, their overall strategies showed inexperience beyond Nod. During their first real galactic war, the Batarian Crusade, the flaws in their doctrine became prominent and the Empire adopted a far more turian doctrine.

Before the Batarian Crusade, the Empire's tactics were described by themselves as that of the Roman Empire, a state that had existed on their homeworld. Forces would engage, then be cycled out and replaced with fresh troops, allowing their own to recover while the enemy would theoretically be bled out. However, while in theory this sounded like an ideal way to fight war, the realities of galactic war proved that this strategy did not to translate well into three dimensional warfare. Some commanders still attempt to leverage this ability, if they have the numbers to do so. However, while the theme of sharing the burden on their defenses remains, a full force rotation has faded into history.

The modern Star Empire's combat tactics is best described as mainline supported by powerful, but low duration shock and awe attacks to break their opponents. The Star Empire makes greater use of GARDIAN lasers than other militaries, sacrificing some kinetic barrier power for superior point defenses on their space ships. This practice stems from experiences with batarian boarding parties during the Batarian Crusade. The Star Empire has also adopted these for their shock and awe attacks, using ships loaded with additional GARDIAN lasers. These "hammer units" swing in and deal as much damage as possible before pulling out, allowing the mainline ships to move into the gap created. This keeps the enemy pinned down and prevents them from counterattacking these hammer units so they can cool down for another run. These hammer units are notoriously fragile given the Star Empire's turian-esque tactics, but this is not due to weak armor, but rather due to reliance on GARDIAN, which has a finite supply of heat absorption before it needs to vent and recharge. Hammer units which get pinned down and unable to withdraw to recharge have become known to be easy pickings.

**Codex: Star Empire Military - Space**

Ship design within the Empire primarily draws from the volus and asari, the former due to the direct uplifting and the latter due to needing stardocks to assemble their ships in. Imperial space forces are well known for usage of additional GARDIAN lasers, more so than their turian or asari counterparts. However, the expense of these lasers, particularly the power cost, means that the Empire's vessels have weaker kinetic barriers than those employed by their counterparts of equal cost. To compensate for this, it is common for fleet units to attempt to remain in close proximity in order to share GARDIAN coverage and they have devoted much of their R&D time into creating defense VI programs which can pair off point defense laser strikes to maximize their coverage duration. This trading off, while complicated to perform, enables skilled crews to greatly extend the length of their GARDIAN defenses.

Although the Empire leans on asari and volus aid in constructing their fleet, they are not without native assets. Their primary shipyard, Ezekiel Stardock, was completed in 2653 GS (2153 CE) to facilitate the assembly of new ships of all classes and is taken as a sign that the Empire will eventually be wholly self-sufficient. Besides a solid interstellar engineering program taught to many young members of the Empire, the Star Empire is also known to employ quarian converts to the Faith of Abraham to take advantage of their natural affinity for engineering and virtual intelligence in designing starships.

The Empire's fleet also has a high presence of the Imperial Administration within its vessels. These officers are responsible for ensuring loyalty to the empire and that house loyalties are kept in check. Although the official military nominally answers only to the Emperor and the chain of command from there, in practice only the fleet truly follows this system as no noble is foolish enough to risk the Emperor's wrath in a matter critical to all elements of the Empire. The officers assigned by the Imperial Administration are also skilled in a variety of tasks and are expected to contribute to ships operations beyond mere observation.

Note that the Chivalric Orders of the Star Empire do have space assets, but they are limited to frigates and fighters with very few if any Orders maintaining a cruiser, and those that do generally use it more as a mobile base and headquarters then as a ship to deploy into war. Orders are only permitted one fleet group of frigates and fighters.

**Codex: Star Empire Military - Ground Forces**

On the ground, the Star Empire again uses standard galactic tactics: Infantry armed with standardized patterns of small arms, body armor, and kinetic barriers supported by ground vehicles and air support. However, the Star Empire has also been experimenting with ground based GARDIAN weaponry for their elite forces due to their extra experience with it from the Batarian Crusades. Unlike their space doctrines, however, the Star Empire was able to learn ground based warfare faster, as they found themselves engaged in smaller scale actions, including pre-eezo tech level wars on Nod.

The Star Empire's military has a certain degree of decentralization and home brew defense, giving it an advantage there. Many nobles maintain civil levies which have been well regulated and trained, usually lead by veterans from their service as drillmasters (particularly those who are too old for combat) and occasionally as officers. These levies also serve as a local police force. Many houses also maintain elite troops, known as House Guards, for their personal use.

Thanks to this decentralized structure, the Star Empire can quickly raise a number of troops to replace losses and attacks on Empire planets requires being able to stamp out a civil uprising in favor of the defenders. However, these levies are ill suited for extended operations elsewhere due to using cheap and often outdated armor and weapons (affectionately referred to as wool tunics and paintballs, respectively) and as such are usually used as garrisons, overseen by professional soldiers, who have more up to date equipment.

Unlike the fleet, which due to high presence of Imperial Administration officers in observatory role is houseless, ground forces are not as much regulated and house loyalty is significantly higher in ground based units. While most soldiers in these forces are loyal to their Emperor, many units are locally drawn and thus loyal to local nobility. Most ground units have their personal loyalty to the planetary governor's house, or a noble under that house. Although troubling, most Emperors have accepted this_ de facto_ state as long as the nobility does not cause trouble and only use their private assets in squabbles with each other. When public assets become involved in private affairs, interventions occur. This has happened rarely, however, and for the most part Emperors are content to allow the nobility to hold onto a relic of the past.

The Star Empire's navy may still be somewhat behind the turians, but their ground forces are not. This is in part due to buying from outside sources, such as Elkoss Combine, to supply themselves. While they maintain native production - particularly for vehicles - they have been satisfied with buying off the shelf for their small arms and even have a license to produce certain types of equipment to sustain their military. Some groups of nobles prefer native production, but the Imperial Army utilizes standard issue gear and therefore use gear acquired from Elkoss Combine.

Chivalric Orders primarily add ground forces to any battle they participate in, their soldiers and members often being superior to those of the standing military, due to strong military traditions and often being members of the nobility or favored by them. Due to their size, the Orders are considered an auxiliary part of the Imperial Army and not a main fighting force. Orders primarily contribute elite infantry to battles rather than ground armor.


	6. Priority: The Citadel - Chora's Den

_My co-authors and I apologize for this in front of the story this chapter, but it needs to be said. Some reviews have been… questionable, primarily focusing on bashing religion, as in those of real life and not just the __fictional__ Faith of Abraham created for the Star Empire. It needs to be noted that this fanfic is __**absolutely **_**NOT**_ intended to be a statement on religion or its place in the world. This fanfic was written to explore an alternate scenario of the Mass Effect universe and most importantly, to be an enjoyable read. We are not here to argue about the evils of religion. We are not here to argue about why religion should be in every facet of life. We are not here to run the Systems Alliance over with our own faction, and likewise we are not here for the Empire to be steamrolled by the Alliance. As such, the views of characters within this story should be taken as those of the character in question and not our own._

_Since some have missed it, the Star Empire is __**descended**__ from both crusaders and those local to Jerusalem in 1192, and have undergone social change since then over a one thousand year period. Yes, they maintain a feudal hierarchy, but it is significantly different and more streamlined than that used in real life. If anything, it is closer to the Turian Hierarchy's tier system than real life feudalism. The Empire is not just the people of the Crusades era yanked into the far future, but their descendants who have had to adjust to fit in. If they were as bad as some reviewers claimed they are, they would not be a member of the Citadel in good standing but a pariah state like the batarians - the Citadel is rather socially liberal, after all, even if slow to change._

_It should be rather telling that the Star Empire's Spectre candidate is a woman who is not pretending to be a male. So please, stop harping on the evils of religion or how the SE is just a complete set of nutjobs until you actually see the Empire and not just preconceptions. The Empire has its problems, but so does the Systems Alliance, and the Turian Hierarchy, and the Salarian Union, and the Vol Protectorate, and the Asari Republics, and the Migrant Fleet, and the Batarian Hegemony, and well… just about any government, real or fictional._

_So please, if you intend to leave a review please do not limit it to the fare of harping on how religion is bad and the SE are crazy by default. We are perfectly fine with constructive criticism - in fact, we want that. Our original idea for the Empire's military doctrine, the roman-like tactics mentioned in the Codex Entries following the last chapter, was something we changed when we were told the doctrine would not work. We pulled that diamond out of the rough of a shitstorm and changed the Empire's tactical shtick appropriately to what it now actually uses. But we are not interested in simple bashing and screaming. So please, if you have criticism please leave it, but if your comment can be summed up as "religion sucks", it might better to keep it to yourself._

_And now, the story:_

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**Outside of Chora's Den**

"Looks like Fist knows we're coming, it's closed," Vakarian said as he gestured towards the turned off neon sign. The team was across the alley from their target. Etel nodded to the turian, remembering how just a short hour ago they had been attacked by assassins there.

"Okay," Nihlus said as he looked at them, "our comms synced up?" Everyone's omni-tool glowed briefly as they checked and a chorus of affirmatives sounded off. "Good. Assault Team goes in first and shocks them. Overwatch Team, come in behind us and pick off any major targets while we create chaos. Alenko, I want you focused on counteracting any biotic attacks."

"Got it," the Alliance biotic said with his pistol in hand.

"They have a krogan bouncer," Wrex added, "Let me handle him while the rest of you clear the riff-raff."

Etel paused, then nodded. "Makes sense. Call out if you need help with him, though."

The krogan growled at her, "Don't insult me," Etel paused, curling her lip before the krogan broke out into a grin and she exhaled softly in relief. "Nah, I won't need the help, but thanks for the offer."

"One more thing," Kaidan added, "What do we do if C-Sec shows up?"

"Don't kill them," Vakarian cut in, "but I've got no objections to knocking them out if needed. I've got some concussive rounds for that if we need it."

Nihlus nodded. "Agreed, but I have a VI set to disarm any C-Sec response calls and tell them to stay out of our way."

"Alright then," Williams said as she adjusted her grip on the Phaeston assault rifle Nihlus had given her, "Ready when you are, Nihlus."

The turian Spectre nodded. "Move out."

Etel, Wrex, and Nihlus rushed forward, with Nihlus hurling a charge on the door and overloading it, causing it to open to allow them inside. Wrex took point, charging headlong into the fray with Nihlus and Etel behind him, kicking over tables on each side of the doorway to make cover as a sniper round from Vakarian's rifle rang out from behind them, picking off the bartender with a shotgun who was facing the door the moment Wrex was clear. The krogan was currently grabbing another thug and throwing him into a bipedal mech.

"LOKI mechs!" Nihlus warned as he rose out of cover and blew a thug away with his shotgun. Etel nodded, lifting one of the mechs and throwing it towards another thug. Assault rifle fire sprayed towards her side of the club as Ashley took a position behind the doorway, while Wrex was on Nihlus' side and the krogan bouncer had come out to fight.

"I… AM… KR-"

"_Worthless!"_ Wrex interrupted as he headbutted the krogan bouncer and knocked him to the ground mid charge. Etel heard an electric growl and barely had time to react as a four legged mech leapt out from behind the bar as she dropped back into cover from her biotic attack and it grabbed her. She grunted in pain as an electric shock went through her outfit before she managed to activate her omni-blade and stabbed the mech in the side before kicking it back towards the bar.

"_Look alive! Enemy engineer with a turret topside!"_ Vakarian warned through their omni-tools.

"I see him!" Nihlus answered as he blasted another LOKI mech's head off.

"_Turret online!"_ the enemy engineer shouted as the krogan bouncer grabbed a table and smashed it against Wrex, the older krogan shrugging the hit off before retaliating with a shotgun blast as Alenko overloaded a FENRIS mech coming out from the back.

"How many thugs are there?" Etel shouted as she stormed to the next table, using a biotic barrier to shrug off a shotgun blast before reaching over the kicked over table and grabbing the thug in question, flinging her over the table and impaling her with an omni-blade.

"More than there should be!" Nihlus called back. "Williams, cover me!"

The Alliance commander laid down a suppressive burst as she moved to the knocked over table Nihlus had used for cover, her kinetic barrier breaking as she got back into cover to avoid fire from the turret as Nihlus sprang forward. Etel glanced over and saw a batarian rushing towards her with an omni-tool projected gauntlet around his fist.

"You want a melee fight, slave?!" the batarian shouted as he leapt over and knocked her pistol out of her hand. "Come and get one!" He drew his arm back and punched her square in the chest before she could counter with her own biotics, knocking her into the wall behind her as Nihlus destroyed the turret.

"Mind over matter!" a woman shouted and Williams was suddenly floating out of cover and a bullet went through her shoulder.

"_Watch out - asari dancer with biotics!"_ Vakarian called out as another sniper round rang into the bar and took out a LOKI mech.

"I've got her!" Alenko shouted.

Etel shook her head and looked at the batarian in front of her and charged her omni-blade, striking him in the leg before screaming as she felt something stab into her arm. The batarian laughed as he picked her up and threw her back into the table she had kicked over. "Stupid human! Can't even see the blade armor!"

She growled as she shut her omni-blade off and charged her biotics, lifting the batarian into the air before throwing him into a stool that had been broken by an awry shotgun blast. The batarian crashed into it, kinetic barrier activating to stop the stool from impaling him but it knocked him off. She dove for her pistol, grabbing it and shooting the batarian with several rapid shots. The batarian staggered back from the hits before rising back to his full height and revealing he had a shotgun of his own…

…And then his head exploded as a sniper round went through it. "Scoped and dropped!" Vakarian called from his new position at the doorway.

"Thank you!" Etel answered as another thug was rushing her with a pistol. A biotic pull and a biotically charged punch later, and the goon was short an arm and spinning into the wall that she had hit earlier. She turned, seeing Williams nursing her shoulder as Nihlus and Alenko had taken out the asari dancer who had attacked them and Wrex was using the krogan bouncer's body as a club, crushing the engineer and another thug with him and a disquiet fell over the bar.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Williams, how bad?" Etel asked.

"I'll be fine, BDU caught most of it. You?"

"I'll live, blade armor's nasty," she explained as she put a hand on her forearm, "It's covered in serrated blades that dig into you when you connect a punch or omni-blade strike."

"That's impressive," Alenko said as he walked over to Williams and held up his omni-tool. "And you'll be fine; small dose of medi-gel and you won't even scar."

"Heh, thanks," Williams said. "Nice job on that dancer, by the way."

Etel glanced over and saw that the asari who had attacked them had her head blown off and her body had been hurled onto a broken pole. Alenko looked back at his handiwork and winced. Nihlus walked up to the krogan bouncer and prodded him with his shotgun as Wrex was casually pulling pieces of metal debris out of his armor. "He's down," Nihlus declared. "Alright, let's move on."

The team moved forward to the back door and assumed storming positions while Vakarian dropped behind the bar itself with his sniper rifle in hand. Wrex was on the opposite side by himself while Etel, followed by Williams and Alenko were in position on the left side. Nihlus moved forward slowly before overriding the door. As soon as it opened, Nihlus dropped to the side to give Vakarian a clean shot.

"Nothing," Vakarian said. "Nothing except-"

"_Don't move!"_ someone shouted, Etel, Wrex, and Nihlus coming out of cover with weapons pointed as two stockboys were pointing pistols at them and shaking visibly.

"Oh you have to be kidding me," Wrex complained.

"Stock workers," Vakarian chimed in. "No threat."

"Let's blast them and be…"

Etel leaned in and grabbed the krogan's shotgun, aiming it to the side so the blast would not kill them. The stockboys leapt backwards in terror, pistols clattering to the floor and Nihlus stepped in pointing his shotgun at them.

"Brave, standing up to six armed intruders who just took out a bar full of thugs," the turian Spectre said before lowering his shotgun. "But if you're smart, you'll leave and not look back. We're not after you, just Fist."

The two looked at each other. "Okay, yeah, we're gone. Never liked Fist anyways. C'mon."

"Could've just shot 'em," Wrex grumbled as he pushed Etel off, relatively gently for a krogan as the two walked by. "Would've been quicker."

"No need to add innocents to the body count," she shot back.

"Come on, Fist knows we're coming," Nihlus chided. They moved up, Etel and Wrex flanking Nihlus while the second team came in behind them watching their flank. They came into the last room, a meeting room with a wide circular table and two boxes in the back.

"What the - oh great!" the man ran to the back of the room and hit a console. "Let's see how you like bullets!"

"_Turrets_!" Nihlus, Wrex, and Etel shouted simultaneously as they sprinted to the other side of the room as Williams, Vakarian, and Alenko took cover behind the wall on their side.

"No good," Williams called as she glanced out and had to immediately pull back into cover as bullets whizzed past her. "They've got both arcs covered! Alenko, you're up."

"Tech?" he asked as the two switched positions and he was the one closest forward. Nihlus was closest on their side.

"On three," Nihlus said, "One… two… three!" Both leaned out at the same time and activated their omni-tools, striking the turrets opposite of them with overloads when a sudden flurry of rounds shot towards them. Vakarian quickly leaned up against the doorway while Williams threw herself to the other side. Etel looked over and saw more thugs coming in behind them.

"We've got company!"

"Back team, handle the reinforcements!" Nihlus called, "The rest of us will take out Fist!"

"Got it!" Alenko shouted as his kinetic barrier was dropped and a round went through his thigh. Williams sprayed a barrage down the doorway they had come from, taking out a mercenary while Vakarian shot another in the head. Alenko pushed himself back up as Nihlus used his jet boots to leap across the gap, bullets trailing into his kinetic barrier as Fist fired at them, then the Spectre leaned out and blasted the turret opposite of him with his shotgun.

"That's one down!" Nihlus called as the other turret recovered and fired at Etel. She leaned back into cover and looked to Wrex. He simply grinned.

"Draw its fire, I've got it," the gunfire from the other mercenaries was dying down as the krogan stepped around Etel and charged forward, a blue shimmering barrier protecting him.

"He's a biotic!?" Etel asked in surprise as Nihlus followed the krogan in, firing a shotgun blast towards Fist. Recovering, Etel followed and saw Fist about to shoot Wrex and fired, hitting the criminal in the hand and knocking his gun clear - no kinetic barrier left after Nihlus' shot. The turret stopped firing as Wrex blasted it with his oversized shotgun, his biotic barrier down and several marks on his armor as the overwatch team came in and all six walked towards Fist, guns raised as the criminal was on the ground.

Fist looked over his battered defenses, his broken, bleeding hand, and then at the six weapons aimed at him.

"For love of God please don't shoot me!" he shouted, raising his hands into the air, blood dripping from his shooting hand.

"You don't have a right to invoke His name," Etel snarled, stepping forward and keeping her pistol trained on his chest.

"Officer Vakarian, check the computer," Williams said, gesturing for Vakarian to move forward too. The turian quickly moved to the computer, activating his omni-tool and proceeding to hack the required access. Soon, he turned back to the team and nodded.

"Data is safe. The encryption still holds," he said. "Data seems to be untampered. We can confirm its content later. Huh, interesting."

"What?" Nihlus asked.

"The data was sent by a quarian. No name and the image is fuzzy, just a note that the Council needs to see it."

"We can confirm it when we're somewhere safer," Alenko commented as he lowered his pistol and checked his thigh wound.

"You got what you came for. Now it's time for mine," Wrex said, raising his shotgun at Fist.

"Please don't let him shoot me! I tell you whatever you want!" Fist pleaded, crawling backwards as he tried to put distance between him and the krogan, only to run up against the wall.

"Stand down, we are _not_ killing anyone who has surrendered," Williams said, stepping between the two.

"Why not? He tried to kill us," Wrex countered.

"Besides, he has worked with slavers. Seems good enough reason for me to kill him," Etel commented, looking over at Fist who was looking rather pale, backed against the wall like the scum he was.

"He surrendered. We are not killing defenseless people, even if they deserve it," Williams said, turning to Etel with a hard glare.

"Besides, he could be valuable witness to us. He could testify to-" Alenko began, before a loud bang interrupted him. Etel and Williams turned over to see the source of the shot, Wrex's smoking shotgun being holstered by the krogan casually as Fist now sported a large hole in his chest and the wall and floor around him was now covered with blood.

"I got paid to do a job," Wrex rumbled as he finished holstering his shotgun. "I don't leave jobs half-finished"

"And none of you tried to stop him?" Williams asked, turning to face Vakarian and Alenko. Vakarian merely shrugged, continuing to work on the datafile while Alenko raised his hand defensively and Nihlus shrugged.

"Hey, he caught me off-guard just like you!" Williams' mouth opened to retort to Alenko's comment, but she dropped the matter without a word.

"Well, the job is done, so I assume you're not going to shoot anyone else?" Vakarian asked Wrex, who nodded.

"Only if you shoot first," he said, looking at Williams who stared back for a moment, before grunting in disgust.

"There. Data is decrypted. It's a voice file, interestingly enough. From the data format, it seems like it was a transmission. Want to hear what we got?" Vakarian said, finishing his work.

"I'd like to know what Saren wanted to hide so badly," Etel said firmly.

"Well, that's what we came for it. Let's hear it," Williams nodded as she holstered Nihlus' Phaeston. Vakarian nodded and pressed a button on his omni-tool.

"_The attack on Eden Prime was successful,"_ Saren's voice came from the omni-tool. _"The information from the beacon is secure and we now have a lead on the Conduit."_

"_And are one step closer to the rebirth of the Reapers,"_ another voice, feminine, responded to Saren. The team looked at each other, no one showing any signs that they might recognize the voice. Etel felt like she recognized the term Reaper, but she could not place where she had heard it before.

"_Yes. With the aid of the *krzzzz* we *krzz* galaxy *krrz*"_ the file cut off, devolving into static.

"Well. That was something," Alenko said with a surprisingly neutral deadpan.

"I think that pretty much confirms that Saren was behind Eden Prime," Etel said as she holstered her pistol. "I mean, he did mention that the attack was successful and that the data was secured."

"He didn't say he worked with the geth or the Collectors, however," Nihlus countered, though there was little conviction in his voice, just sorrow. "He could be simply talking to someone in order to track the attackers."

"Really?" Williams asked as she folded her arms. "Then why did he say that the information from the beacon was secure, but didn't tell that to the Council? He did try to blame the loss of information on us, so him saving it would have made his point," she gestured at Vakarian's omni-tool. "Sorry Nihlus, but it's quite clear that Saren has gone rogue."

"...He is definitely hiding something," Nihlus conceded. "We need to get this information to Council."

As the group exited the bar, the were met with at least a dozen weapons trained at them by a large group of C-Sec officers, all looking rather agitated and some carrying riot shields. The entry way to Chora's Den was barricaded and there was no obvious way out and several searchlights were aimed at them, blinding Etel momentarily.

"_You are under arrest for assault on private property!"_ came a voice from behind the barricade, amplified by a loudspeaker. _"Surrender your weapons! You are surrounded and cannot escape, this is your only warning!"_ Nihlus simply walked forward and spoke up, getting everyone's attention as he did so.

"This is an official Spectre matter and these people are under my command," he shouted. "Send your people home, Executor! If you absolutely need to go by the book again, I am Spectre Nihlus Kryik."

"Kryik?" Executor Palin answered incredulously, stepping up from behind the barricade. "You Spectres are always trouble. No control whatsoever."

"Which is why not everyone gets to be one," Nihlus retorted, shrugging. He gestured the team to holster their weapons - Wrex and Williams had theirs in hand again - and then gestured for them to follow him as a path was made for them and they walked by. Etel could tell some of the officers were uneasy letting them walk away when Pallin spoke up again.

"You are not going anywhere, Vakarian!" the C-Sec Executor said, pointing at him. "Didn't I tell you to drop this matter?"

"I took him with me, because he is the C-Sec officer working on this case and thus, is rather important to have on the job," Nihlus explained with dull annoyance. Etel saw that Vakarian's face was in the turian version of a grimace and he looked like he was about to blow.

"As of now, he isn't. Vakarian, you are going to be suspended from the force for this while we discuss your actions."

"Don't bother," Vakarian spat back with enough bite that Etel almost jumped seeing the previously calm officer snap. "I resign. You can keep C-Sec and its endless bureaucracy. If we hadn't done this, we would have lost an important piece of evidence and Saren would never be brought to justice for his actions. I would have thought you'd be happy to see a Spectre reined in when he went too far, Executor. But you're angry because we followed the lead and it took a Spectre to bring the evidence against one to light?" He glared at Pallin before glancing to the nearby officers, several of whom were holding their guns tightly and one asari had a blue biotic aura around her hand. "You can have my gun right now," Vakarian unslung his sniper rifle without deploying it and tossed it to the closest C-Sec officer, the salarian catching it. "I'll send you the badge via the mail once I clear my desk."

"Vakarian, I suggest you think about this," Palin said, though his voice was no longer threatening, it sounded more concerned. And afraid.

"Well I have thought about it," he answered without missing a beat. "I've been thinking about it my entire time in C-Sec. Saleon, Fenir, Rikas, all criminals I could have caught and brought to justice. Yet, they all got away thanks to the stupid red tape you insist on."

"Those rules are there to protect the people, Vakarian. What if Fist was innocent? You just assaulted the place!" Pallin paused in horror, looking back at Chora's Den and the dead thugs visible through the doorway. "Wait... Where is Fist?"

"Dead. Like he deserves to be," Vakarian answered casually with a shrug as the rest of the team were watching, a few C-Sec officers watching Wrex closely but the krogan just folded his arms and watched the two turians going at it.

"You don't get to decide that," Palin shot back at Vakarian. "We are not judge, jury and executioner! Our job is to protect people and apprehend criminals, _after _we have proof of their guilt! It is the duty of the courts to pass judgment, not ours."

"And see them walk away, just because they know who to bribe?" Vakarian retorted. "No, not anymore. I want to help people, but I clearly can't do it in C-Sec. See you around, 'Executor' Pallin," Vakarian turned around walked away from the entire mess. Etel was staring wide eyed after him, she had never seen a turian lose his cool like that. The other C-Sec officers seemed unsure whenever or not to try to bring him back.

"Spirits," Pallin muttered in annoyance. "And before you go anywhere, Kryik…"

"I'll send you a copy of my report to the Council," Nihlus shot back as something beeped on his omni-tool and he checked it, nodding towards Vakarian as his was glowing too. "Otherwise, this information needs to be brought to the Council immediately. Feel free to verify it, though," he turned to the rest of the group. "Come on, let's not keep your ambassadors waiting."

The five walked off, with Wrex leaving them before they got on the elevator to the Presidium and Williams handed Nihlus his assault rifle back on the elevator ride up.

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**Twenty Minutes Later**

**Human Embassy**

As the Spectre, two candidates, and Alliance lieutenant entered the embassies, they were met by two angry ambassadors the moment the door was opened and the noise could be heard from the other side of the Presidium.

"WILLIAMS!" shouted Udina.

"SHEPARD!" shouted Leonidas.

"_DO WORDS POLITICAL SHITSTORM MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU!?"_ both bellowed at the same time, before glaring at each other in surprise before turning back to the actual source of their shared anger.

"A firefight in the wards?" Udina asked first.

"An all-out assault on Chora's Den, even if it is a sinful place?" Leonidas asked in turn.

"To be fair we were-" Williams began before being cut off.

"You are supposed to be one of our best, not some loose cannon disgrace like your grandfather!" Udina snarled without missing a beat.

"Fist was-" Shepard tried to interrupt before being cut off herself.

"No matter your feelings on Fist, Shepard, launching an all-out assault that got an entire C-Sec riot team deployed is not how you bring such lost sons to justice," Leonidas cut her off, pointing his finger accusingly.

"So much for diplomacy…" Alenko muttered under his breath.

"Hold your tongue, Lieutenant," Udina snarled, "before I have both of you court martialed and sent to Earth in irons!" Anderson simply facepalmed in the back of the embassy.

"_Ahem,_" Nihlus cut in sharply. "If you two ambassadors are done acting like pyjaks, how about you shut up and listen!" Both human diplomats glared at him coldly but did not say anything. Nihlus continued after a moment. "It was a Spectre operation, so it was all legal and considering that two of the people involved were my candidates, naturally they were involved. Also it was you, Ambassador Udina, who ordered Lieutenant Alenko to stay with these two," he paused a moment to let it sink in. "Besides, we got what we needed. The evidence on Saren."

Udina's jaw dropped as far as it could as Nihlus walked forward with his omni-tool and activated it, playing the evidence over again. By the time the file ended, Udina had recomposed himself.

"The Council will want to hear this. Send a copy to C-Sec, have them confirm it. With this, we can nail Saren," Udina said, nodding to himself. "I will contact the Council and tell them of this new development. Don't go far, this should not take longer than an hour," he moved to his desk and began to type furiously into his computer.

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**Two Hours Later**

**Council Chambers**

The sound file devolved into static for the third time, but this time it was in front of the Council and a whole group of onlookers to the proceeding. Ambassador Udina was wearing one of the smuggest expressions Etel had seen since meeting Patrician Luft. And that bastard had thought he had enough charm to make Etel to fall for him, to use her to tie his bloodline into House Shepard. That ended worse than the original trial for Saren, but the smugness was palpable as Udina pointed towards the speakers that had played the file.

"There's your proof, Councilors. Saren was behind the attack on Eden Prime," Udina said, the smug grin never leaving his face as the Councilors quietly talked amongst themselves. Tevos finally looked over to Executor Palin, who was standing nearby, as they finished.

"Executor, can you confirm this evidence?" she asked.

"Yes, Councilor," Palin confirmed, stepping forward onto the central platform from where Etel, Williams, Alenko, and Anderson had been watching the proceedings. "The data has not been tampered with and voiceprint match confirmed it was Spectre Arterius. Furthermore, the data was submitted to the C-Sec hint line about half an hour before the original hearing. Once it was flagged by a VI and sent to my officer on the case, it was intercepted. Unfortunately, we could not interrogate the culprit, as he died... resisting arrest," Palin looked back pointedly at Etel and Williams, who both avoided his gaze. "Still, I believe this data is legitimate."

"Thank you, Executor," Sparatus said with a firm nod. "We agree that this new evidence casts a new light to the case."

"Why do I feel we are about to get a 'but'..." Williams whispered to Etel, who nodded. She had seen this kind of song and dance before in the Imperial Administration when something else had happened that complicated the ruling.

"But there has been a new development," Sparatus continued as if on cue. "Shortly after the hearing earlier today, Saren went dark and we cannot contact him."

"Of course he would. I assume this Council will do what it needs to be done to bring Saren into justice?" Udina asked, leaning forward and gripping the rails.

"This evidence does not yet prove that Saren has allied himself with the geth or Collectors, but it does prove that he was not truthful in his earlier claims," Tevos said, raising her hand to calm Udina. "Furthermore, I recognize the second voice, Matriarch Benezia. She is highly respected theologian, a powerful biotic, and had many followers. The last we heard of her, she was planning an expedition to contact the Collectors and try to solve the enigma. Her ship was en route to the Terminus Systems before we lost contact with her. We assumed she was still searching them in Terminus."

_Brilliant,_ Etel thought with an undeniable sense of dread as she considered just how powerful an ally Saren now had.

"Still, action will be taken," Valern added. "Spectre Kryik, please step forward," Nihlus stepped forward, clearly expecting the request.

"Spectre Arterius has caused a serious concern for his actions. As such, this Council will require him to answer the questions it has," Tevos said.

"Your mission, as it stands, is to bring him here to be properly heard, and judged should the need arise," Sparatus continued "You have this Council's permission to whatever it takes to complete this mission."

"Do you understood your mission?" Valern asked finally.

"Yes, Councilors. I will not fail you," Nihlus said, as if he had heard this same litany many times before. Etel suspected that this was how the official orders were carried out, as it seemed like everyone involved knew the wording from their memory.

"Once Saren has been brought here, we will continue this trial. This Council will retire until then," Tevos said and the Councilors left.

"Well, that takes care of that," Williams said as Nihlus and Udina joined their group behind the main chamber. "What now?"

"Assuming the Alliance has not changed its stance," Nihlus began, looking at Udina and Anderson before turning back to the two women, "you two will follow me in this mission onboard _Normandy_, and yes Lieutenant, you too," Alenko rubbed the back of his neck as the Spectre singled him out, though Nihlus quickly turned serious again as he continued. "Captain Anderson will remain in command of the ship, naturally, but it will be less hassle than requesting a new ship. Furthermore, _Normandy's_ stealth capabilities could be useful. You never know what you might meet when you are ordered to bring in a Spectre."

"You are welcome to stay onboard _Normandy_," Anderson said with a nod. "Just run your ideas through me, because Spectre or not, an Alliance vessel running around galaxy is bound to cause a few diplomatic incidents."

"Just keep them few and ideally far between, Captain," Udina said coldly. "I have enough issues to deal with without you threatening to start a war."

"Charming as always," the captain said nonchalantly.

"You should head back to the ship, Captain," Nihlus cut in, before two of them could get into an argument. "There are few people I will want to talk before we take off. Not to mention, it will take some time to compile the data and go over it, so we know where to go."

Anderson nodded. "Agreed. Williams, Alenko, I want you two to go get Jenkins; he and Gunnery Chief Taylor should be finished at the C-Sec Academy's medbay. I'll head back to the _Normandy_ and start the pre-flight checklist," Alenko looked like he was about to say something before deciding to remain quiet.

"Understood, sir," Williams said, saluting Anderson and the two Alliance marines walked off.

"What about me?" Etel asked as she glanced at her omni-tool to check the time.

"You can head to the embassy or _Normandy_ when ready," Nihlus said with a brief nod.

"Yes, you should head to the embassy," Udina said slowly. "A package arrived for you."

"Pack- oh. Right," she remembered the package her mother had sent and gave a small bow. "I'll take my leave, then."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Half an Hour Later**

**C-Sec Academy - Officer Residence**

"C'mon, Garrus, you're taking this way too far."

"Damn it, Solana," Garrus shot back as he looked at his sister, who was sitting on his bed while he was busily cleaning his room of anything that he would need to return to C-Sec, "this isn't like it was this one time. How many criminals have escaped because of red tape? How many murders, rapes, thefts, and more happened because I couldn't take out a criminal when I had the chance?" He opened a drawer and found an old scan from his work chasing Doctor Saleon and he chucked it into the 'return' bag.

"And how many lives have you saved with this job?" she shot back. "You're throwing away a promising…"

"Promising?" He stopped and looked at his sister in surprise. "Come on, has dad been talking to you again trying to get you to drop the arena games and join C-Sec, hasn't he?"

"So what if he has?"

"He just doesn't get it, and I can't understand why," he said as he curled his fingers into a fist. "He's done hundreds of cases, why doesn't he see that all this red tape is slowing us down, letting the bad guys get away? That's _why_ the Council needs Spectres…"

"Oh no, you aren't bringing up dad canning the extra training again are you?" She put her hand on her face and shook her head slowly.

"It was just training, it wasn't guaranteeing me a chance like that ground team on Eden Prime. Besides, if Spectres were as bad as he said why would the Council keep using them?"

"You're just saying that because you got to _work_ with one," there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Solana said. Garrus turned towards it, expecting a fight before pausing and his mouth dropped open as he saw who had walked in.

"Spectre Kyrik!" he said in surprise, rising to full height and dropping the bag on the desk. "What can I do for you? Did the data help?"

"It helped," the turian Spectre said as he folded his arms and glanced at Solana. "Girlfriend from home?"

"Sister, actually," Solana chimed in. Nihlus paused a moment, mouth closed tightly before he coughed.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she said as she slid off the bed to stand.

"I take it the data worked?" Garrus asked.

"It did, the Council ordered me to bring Saren in," Nihlus explained, though Garrus could tell in Nihlus' body language that he was not happy about it. "I understand that you're going through with your resignation."

"Yes," he answered without hesitation. "Pallin and the endless bureaucracy has stopped me from doing my job for the last time. I'm just glad you were there, though. Made walking away a lot easier."

Nihlus stared him down. "You do realize that you were getting off lucky, Garrus Vakarian? That it could have been much worse?"

An aggravated sigh came from Solana. "What did you do this time?"

"My job," Garrus answered as he turned to her. "We stormed Chora's Den, took out his thugs, and took the data he stole from C-Sec back."

"You do realize that if I wasn't there, you wouldn't just be getting a probation, right?" Nihlus asked, "You'd at the very least have a dozen charges of murder and probably terrorism in the mix?"

"Terror-" Solana stumbled backwards, "Garrus,_ what the fuck did you do?!"_ she shouted as she stared at him in horror.

"Relax, there were no civilian casualties, we hit after hours. Besides, they shot at us first," he turned to Nihlus. "And yes, I understand that. What I don't understand is why Pallin has a pole up his ass about the fact we just nailed a Spectre - the exact kind of people he hates. The kind of people my father hates. If anything, he should be breaking out the horosk and passing the glasses."

Nihlus shook his head. "Pallin has the pole wedged further up his ass then most, but he's simply trying to do his job and he does his by the book. You, however, refuse to do that. Why?"

"Because I want justice," he answered without missing a beat. "Because I want to find the people who hurt the innocent and stop them. I joined C-Sec to do that, to make a difference," he glanced to Solana and shrugged. "And yeah, to try and make my father proud as well. But it seems that every time I try to stop some madman, the rules always get in the way and bad men walk free after they've painted their faces with innocent blood."

"So, you want to try and work without the rules in the way?"

"I'm fine with rules," he added, wondering where the Spectre was going with this, "up until the point where someone gets hurt because they stopped me from doing what I had to do to stop a criminal."

The Spectre nodded. "I'm after Saren, and both the Systems Alliance and Star Empire seem to agree he is with the geth and Collectors."

"Damn, the soft skins actually agreed on something?" Solana said in surprise. "I thought Imps and Alliance couldn't get along unless one side converted the other or it involved aggressive diplomacy."

"But," Garrus cut in as he connected the implications, "you need every gun you can get. And you're here to ask me if I would come along."

"Correct," Nihlus said. "You have an unnaturally good talent with a sniper rifle. We could use a marksman like yourself on this mission."

"Dad's so going to be pissed," Solana said, "You're dropping C-Sec to go with a Spectre, Garrus?"

"In a heartbeat," he said. "I tried to do it his way - C-Sec's way, and all that I've managed to do is get chewed out for trying to do my damn job. Maybe this time, I can deal with the problem instead of just sitting back because they want the hardcopy in triplicate while people get hurt. Maybe I can actually deal with a threat my way, for once."

"You won't be given free reign," Nihlus cut in quickly, "and if your way means civilian casualties I doubt that the Alliance crew and the Knight Hospitaller that you'll be working with would approve."

Garrus paused, jaw dropping open as he realized what he just implied and nodded. "I… I understand. But yes, I'm with you. I just need to finish gathering up anything I need to return to C-Sec, then I'll be ready."

The Spectre nodded and activated his omni-tool. Garrus' beeped as it received data. "Good. Here's the docking bay for the ship and the access you'll need to enter the docking station now that your C-Sec access is gone. It won't get you onto the ship itself, so be sure to identify yourself at the airlock. The ship is leaving in a few hours to start the search. If you have second thoughts, I included a contact number with the access."

He nodded. "Thank you. I won't let you down."

"Of that I hold no doubts, Vakarian," he turned, nodding to Solana briefly, then left.

"You're crazy, Garrus," Solana said as soon as Nihlus left. "Running off with a Spectre? Dad's going to have a heart attack. And what about mom? She hasn't been doing well either…"

"Dad'll have to deal with it," he bit back as he resumed searching through his room. "And mom's tough - if she can handle raising both of us, she knows that there's a time when the two of us need to go find our own road. I guess mine just came sooner."

Solana sighed and walked out of the room. Garrus paused, about to follow her before shaking his head. She could be stubborn like that, and he had to get this cleaned out first. _A beer can?_ He thought with a frown as he found it under his bed before remembering. The attempted robbery of the Flux club by a pair of dirt cheap volus and the beggar they pulled off the streets. He kept poking through, eventually filling the bag and tying it. _Chellick can sort through this shit,_ he thought as he tied the bag together and left it on the floor. He could drop it off when he left.

The door opened again as he started packing his personal belongings and saw Solana, holding her M-92 Mantis sniper rifle. "Solana?" he asked in confusion.

"Here," she said as she put the undeployed gun on the bed, "You'll need this. I'll deal with the bureaucracy."

"Wait a minute, you're giving me your sniper rifle? But don't you have a match tonight?" Garrus asked, nodding towards a calendar that had the match marked. "I'll probably be outfitted with one once I'm onboard anyways."

"I've got a spare," she answered with a shrug. "Besides, all I'm doing is shooting up holographic rachni and other teams. You're going to be out there fighting actual geth and actual aliens, and those stupid Avenger sniper rifles from Hahne-Kedar that the Alliance insists on using aren't worth the shit they put down the plumbing after eating our food."

"Eloquently put," Garrus said in amusement as he picked it up and deployed it, looking down the scope and nodding. "Thanks, Solana. Really. I know you don't agree but… I need to do this. I need to try and be my own person instead of the person that dad wants me to be."

"Just come back alive, alright?" Solana said, putting her hand on Garrus' shoulder

"I will."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**C-Sec Academy Infirmary**

"Commander!" Jenkins said as he snapped to attention.

"At ease, Jenkins," Ashley said as she walked into the ward that he and Jacob Taylor were sharing. "We're getting ready to go and Anderson wants you back on the ship ASAP. Lieutenant Alenko's talking with the doctor now to check you out. Go talk to him."

"Yes ma'am!" Jenkins grabbed the few items he had at his bedside and walked out. Before he left, she put a hand out to stop him.

"Also, Jenkins; how's your family?"

"Perfectly fine, they weren't in the areas hit," the young soldier paused a moment. "Thanks for asking, ma'am."

"No problem," she let go and he left. As soon as the door shut again, Taylor chuckled from the bed he was still on.

"He's eager," the biotic said with a smirk. "Normally you'd expect that kind of eagerness to be dead by dinner."

Ashley walked over, leaning on the wall opposite of him. "Weren't we all that eager once?"

"True," he admitted with a nod. "So, you got Saren? There's rumors swirling around that the first trial was not as solid as believed."

"Probably classified," Ashley admitted. "How about you? Did anyone from your unit survive?"

Taylor's pause was all she needed to see.

"I'm sorry," she said as she looked down. "If we could have been there sooner…"

"You would have been, I know, it's just… you don't expect that, you know? To be the only survivor from your unit? That just a few hours before you were all talking with each other?"

She nodded. "I honestly don't know what I'd do if I was in your situation. The only one left?" She tried to imagine herself in that situation, but just could not imagine the kind of trauma she would be dealing with. She lost men before, but a whole unit and being the only one left?

"Going by how you handled yourself down there," he said with a slight grin, "I'd say you'd keep going until you joined them. Hell, I would have if you didn't show up."

"I'm sure you'd of done just fine, Chief Taylor. You handled yourself better than most. Maybe even better than I would have in your position."

"Guess we should be glad the galaxy will never know, because it means you don't have to lose your whole unit too."

"Humor already?" she asked in surprise.

"_Humor is a great coping mechanism, but keep it to the appropriate time._"

"Admiral Hackett's Guide to First Contact?" she asked, smirking as she remembered the short list that he had posted after being asked for the millionth time what it was like to be the first human - from Earth, not the Empire - to make proper diplomatic contact with aliens.

"Yeah. It's a guide to more than that, though," he shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, what should I be doing? Being a psychological wreck? I'm going to be undergoing counseling for a while, they want to make sure my head's on straight before sending me back out, but… I dunno. I feel like we were trained to be better than that. To accept what happened, to mourn… but move on and do better from what we were lucky enough to learn."

She nodded slowly. "Half of boot camp is basically getting us to avoid shutting down when we lose friends and getting us into the mindset of war."

"More or less, though nothing really prepares you for that," he said with a shrug before looking at her directly. "Look, I don't know where you'll end up going from here, but be careful, Commander. You're going to be in the thick of it while I get this surprisingly comfortable billet back here on the Citadel. And well, the Alliance is going to need every good soldier it can get."

"Thanks, and you be careful too, Gunnery Chief."

Taylor smirked and gave her a brief salute. "Yes ma'am."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**About a half hour later**

**Citadel Docking Bay 442, Outside the **_**Normandy**_

"It's nice to be on dry land, but nothing beats the familiarity of the ship," Ashley said as she, Kaidan and Jenkins returned to the _Normandy_. Shepard had already arrived and stowed her extra tabards away. Nihlus had not arrived yet.

"Commander?" Joker said as she was about to turn towards the back of the ship. "There's a krogan approaching the airlock. You didn't bring back a stray, did you?"

"A krogan?" Ashley asked, looking over two marines. Shepard was also joining them, having noticed their return. "Let's see what we've got on our hands. I'd rather deal with him outside the ship than inside it."

After clearing the airlock, Ashley recognized the krogan as Wrex. He walked up to them and handed a credit chit to her.

"Half of the pay," he rumbled. "I don't like being in debt and you helped me. Fair's fair."

"We can't take this," Ashley protested as she dropped the chit. Blood money was not something she intended to take.

"Well, it's yours now. Throw it away or spend it on some stud. Not my problem," Wrex said, giving a short, grunting laugh. The elevator opened again and the group turned around to see who the new arrivals were. Nihlus and Vakarian stepped out, with Vakarian carrying a large backpack that looked like luggage.

"Got us a sniper for the team," Nihlus explained.

"Is it wise to bring more people onboard?" Ashley asked, eyeing Vakarian.

"As a Spectre, you better get used to working with all kinds of people," Nihlus responded. "Besides, like I said earlier, you never know with a Spectre. Saren might turn himself in... or we might need to fight through a krogan horde. Also, I cleared it with Anderson already. He agreed with me."

"Well, if the captain has greenlighted it, then it's okay," Ashley said with a shrug before looking to the other turian. "Welcome aboard, Vakarian."

"Garrus will do, Commander," Garrus said. Ashley nodded.

"So, you're going after Saren?" Wrex asked. "Got room for a krogan?"

"What?" Ashley turned to face the krogan, wondering if she heard him right.

"You need something to offset the surplus of turians on your ship," Wrex said with a wide grin. Ashley noted that it showed way too many teeth. "Since you are not accepting the credits, I might pay with services. Not to mention, it sounds like you people are going to interesting places."

"Um..." Ashley said, taken back by sudden offer of help.

"Well, having a living tank in the team would certainly help," Shepard chimed in. "I have fought against krogan before. Tough bastards to kill," she paused before turning back to Wrex. "No offense"

"Heh, I'll take that as a compliment."

"What about the blood rage?" Nihlus asked, tilting his head as he looked the krogan over.

"It's a tool, something to channel. It should never control you," Wrex answered, shaking his head. "Too many kids think it's something to be proud of, losing your control."

"An old one, I see. Battlemaster?"

"One of the few," he said as his hand glowed blue with biotic energy and he telekinetically lifted the credit chit that Ashley had dropped, pocketing it.

"Well, as long as he can keep the blood rage under control, he will be valuable asset to us," Nihlus nodded to himself.

"I need to run it through Captain Anderson, but I can see the logic there," Ashey said, nodding to Shepard. "Just don't stick your head anywhere classified, alright?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Twenty Minutes Later**

"Nice place," Wrex said as he looked around the engineering bay and put his bag by the locker he had been assigned. "'Course, your sleeping pods are probably too small, so I'll just get comfortable here."

"Just say out of the drive core," Williams chimed in. "That's off limits."

Etel frowned as she saw the Alliance commander pointedly looking towards her, Garrus, and Wrex. Garrus simply shrugged. "Not a problem."

Etel nodded. "I doubt I need to go back there anyways."

"Hmpf," Wrex grunted as he walked up to Williams, standing over her and staring her down. She flinched briefly before digging her heels in and holding her ground. "You want to say that again?" the krogan asked. Williams refused to move, though Etel was already readying her biotics and she saw Lieutenant Alenko moving to the side to have a clear shot at Wrex, his hand near his omni-tool.

"Just stay out of the drive core," Williams repeated coldly. "It's classified and you have no business there anyways since you're not an engineer."

_Williams you crazy woman, that's a krogan in close quarters!_ Etel wanted to scream as she knew exactly what a krogan - especially a krogan _Battlemaster_ - could do. The entire engineering bay was silent as a tomb as the N6 and Battlemaster stared each other down. Pins could drop and it would sound like the impact of a Pericles artillery battery and Etel's heartbeat was racing as she knew what bloodshed could ensue if this became violent.

Then it happened.

Wrex broke into a wide grin and began to laugh. "Hahaha! You've got a quad, Williams. Yeah, I'll stay out of the drive core. Unless there's ryncol there, I've got no reason to," the krogan took a few steps backwards before turning away towards where he had dropped his pack and began to unpack his own gear, most of the space taken by weapons far too large for humans to use.

Etel, Alenko, Garrus, and the quartermaster nearby all exhaled loudly as Williams turned and looked at them.

"That was crazy, Ash," Alenko said as he shook his head.

"It was," Wrex chimed in as he was unpacking an unusually large sleeping bag and oversized pillow, "but the good kind of crazy."

Etel simply shook her head when they were interrupted.

"_Sir Shepard, there's a call for you. It's waiting for you in the comm room,"_ Joker's voice sounded through the intercom. Etel stopped for a moment, before taking the elevator up and walking to the comm room. Using her omni-tool to accept the call, a male quarian materialized in an orange tinted hologram.

"_Sir Shepard, it's good to see you,"_ the quarian said.

"Etel will do just fine, Rael. What's wrong? You don't normally call me like this, unless it's Tali," Etel said as she frowned.

"_It_ is _Tali this time. I can't contact her. The last time she spoke to me she was on at the colony of New Syracusae, doing something she refused to talk about. It's that damn pilgrimage of hers," _Rael explained, sounding agitated.

"Wait, don't the quarians who join the Empire more or less abandon that tradition?" Etel asked, frowning in confusion as she recalled what she had been told.

"_Normally, yes, but I wanted to teach my daughter about her origins. Then she decided she wants to head out on a pilgrimage to 'see the galaxy and learn about it'. Now I can't contact her. She was supposed to call me a few days ago._"

"That is unusual for her..." Etel muttered, rubbing her chin.

"_Exactly. So, remember that favor you own me? I am cashing in,"_ Rael continued, _"Could you please swing by there to find her and make sure she is okay?"_

"I am on a mission at the moment..." Etel began.

"_You swore it by your honor,"_ Rael countered before she could finish.

"You're not playing fair, Rael," Etel said, shaking her head, "but you are also right. You pulled me out of a big mess. I owe you one. I'll try to convince the captain to make a short detour through New Syracusae. If that fails, I can ask the other knights in the Order to do me a favor."

"_Thank you. I'm worried, I took her to the Empire to give her a better life than what the Fleet could offer. I don't want her to get hurt because of that,"_ Rael said, his shoulders slumping.

"Don't worry Rael. Tali's a strong girl, she can take care of herself. Most likely she is just having fun with friends, or met some handsome quarian boy..." Etel said, fighting to suppress a smile.

"_NO! Absolutely not! I forbid it! She is too young!"_ Rael began immediately, before noticing that Etel had lost her fight and was openly smiling at this point. _"Oh, ha ha ha,"_ he dryly retorted. _"And the Alliance says you nobles have no sense of humor."_

"Well, it did make you livelier," Etel said, "but don't worry. I'll take care of it and call you back later. Say hello to my father if you see him."

"_I will, and thank you,"_ Rael said before the connection was cut. Now all Etel had to do was talk Anderson and Nihlus into a detour. That would be relatively easy, right? After all, they had no leads right now and the data packet did come from a quarian…

… and after sharing her situation to Captain Anderson several minutes later in his quarters, with Nihlus and Williams also present, she quickly realized that such optimism was often unfounded.

"No, we can't afford that detour," Anderson said as he shook his head. "You'll have to call your friends from the Hospitallers; we have to keep our focus on the mission."

"Captain," Williams chimed in as she folded her arms, "wasn't the data sent by a quarian? If she dropped off the radar about the same time the data got sent, maybe there's a connection," Etel raised an eyebrow at Williams briefly before turning back to Nihlus and Anderson.

"Or it's a coincidence," Nihlus answered as he folded his arms. "I understand you want to uphold a promise, Sir Shepard, but we have a mission to do."

"But do we have any leads for the mission?" Etel asked, "The data is still compiling and as you said it would take time. We could do this while it's processing."

"Perhaps. Where is New Syracusae anyways?" Anderson asked. Etel activated her omni-tool and showed him the location in the Attican Traverse. "Hmm. Deep in Imperial space from where we are, so that's a large headache for customs."

"Spectre clearance," Nihlus answered with a shrug. "Besides, you're traveling with a Knight Hospitaller and it's to help her."

"I thought you were opposed to the detour, Nihlus," Anderson said, raising an eyebrow.

"I still am, Captain, just pointing out that we could theoretically do it."

"But you don't want us to," Etel said as she sighed.

"No. We have a mission ahead and we need to focus on that," the turian shook his head. "If we stop to help with every little thing, we will never catch up with Saren."

"I agree," Williams cut in, "we should focus on the mission… but what do we have right now? We have no leads and your VI is going to be data mining for at least another day, if not longer," she paused and looked at Etel. "Say, why is this Rael'Zorah's daughter so far from home anyways? She sounds kinda young from how the situation was described."

"She's just over twenty. She has grown more interested in the customs of her people and recently embarked on her own version of their Pilgrimage, much to her father's chagrin," Etel said, before remembering something. "She's a technological savant, too, give her some omni-gel and a sprinkle of eezo and she'll modify a fuel canister to make precision jumps."

"That's a little hard to believe," Nihlus said dryly.

"Sorry, bit hyperbolic there, but she's a very good machinist and her father trained her well. She might be able to help us crack any geth data we find."

Williams nodded. "You know Captain, if we're going to be fighting geth, having another tech on our side might be useful. We've already got three, but we don't have any true tech specialists who are exclusively trained in that field. No offense."

"None taken," Nihlus admitted with a shrug.

"Not to mention, if I can call her while we are on route, we can drop the matter and if it's nothing, well, we lost nothing, right? Best case, we get us a quarian tech wizard, worst case, we spend time we would have spent waiting around," Etel said.

"I take it you agree with Sir Shepard here?" Anderson asked.

Williams turned to look at Etel before nodding. "Yes, I do," Etel raised an eyebrow in surprise. After their arguments earlier she hardly expected to see her rising to her defense…

"Well, I'm not entirely convinced of this myself, but you are right. It is time we would otherwise spend doing little for the mission," Anderson finally said. "I still think this is a wild goose chase, but if you can contact your friend sooner and get her to join us, then maybe it'll be worth the fuel."

"New Syracusae is not far from the Relays, you won't need too much more fuel besides standard cluster patrol usage," Etel added as she recalled what she had been told about non-relay trips while on the _COS Judgment._

"It might be a good time to test the _Normandy_ on a more extended trip as well, instead of just hugging the Relays where subspace covers most of it," Williams cut in. "I mean, I'm not saying infiltrate the Empire, just see how it can handle for longer trips without stopping at an Alliance depot every other jump."

"Hmmm," Anderson nodded. "Very well, I'll authorize the mission."

"You don't sound fully behind this," Nihlus said as he unfolded his arms.

"I'm not, but their logic is sound. And well, I would like to see how the _Normandy_ runs long distance while we're still in somewhat friendly space."

Nihlus nodded. "Very well. However, if the data crunch takes less time than expected…"

"I'll be happy to adjust," Anderson finished with a nod. "Well, off you go then. I will tell Joker to plot a course. Shepard, you should also give a short heads up to the Empire. Spectre on board or not, a favor for an Imperial or not, this is still an Alliance vessel. If we cross the border without a warning, it _will_ cause a political incident. I'd rather not have Udina calling me and chewing me out for that."

Etel bowed quickly, while Williams saluted, and the two of them left the captain's cabin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**End Chapter**

**Author's Notes:**

_You may have noticed that when in Shepard's perspective, we are using her first name. This is mainly because it feels more sensible that she would go by her first name as the familiar instead of her last name - especially given the fact that she's part of a noble house and not even the one who is supposed to be in charge eventually. Likewise, Ashley and Kaidan go by their last names from Shepard's perspective as they are still relatively new to each other._

_This chapter also leads us to the first major deviation of plot progression besides the inclusion of the Collectors at Eden Prime or the survival of Nihlus and Jenkins. Rather than be on the Citadel, Tali is elsewhere. The content of the next chapter will therefore more or less be the first major original part of this fanfic. To those of you who have been waiting patiently for us to actually deviate properly instead of what could easily be an 'everything goes right' rundown, we thank you for your patience._

_We would also like to thank Sundanze, The Poarter, Hattu, and ww1990ww for their reviews._

_Given the major deviation with Tali, the Codex entries are focused on the quarians. We also included a bit on the Empire's military gimmick when compared to the salarian STG, asari commandos, or turian heavy fleets._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Codex: Quarians**

Driven from their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most quarians now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a flotilla of fifty thousand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to mobile space stations.

Home to seventeen million quarians, the flotilla understandably has scarce resources. Because of this, each quarian must go on a rite of passage known as the Pilgrimage when they come of age. They leave the fleet and only return once they have found something of value they can bring back to their people.

Other species tend to look down on the quarians for creating the geth and for the negative impact their fleet has when it enters a system. However, the Star Empire has a notable quarian minority, enjoying a legal status as citizens. These quarians have abandoned many of the quarian's traditions in order to better fit in the Empire's society and are known as "The Forsaken" by the Migrant Fleet, with views varying from outright disgust to a grudging understanding.

As of recently, the Council has approached the Migrant Fleet for possible colonization projects near the Terminus Systems, but the talks have not yet proceeded to point where concrete results could be achieved.

**Codex: Quarians - The Forsaken**

The Empire's official stance is that the quarians did indeed commit a sin by "playing God" by creating the geth, but see this as an opportunity to guide quarians to God's grace, through conversion and offering medical and legal aid as well as citizenship. Although many quarians reject the conversion, finding the Empire's policy as patronizing, some do indeed choose the live in the Empire in hopes of a better life.

These quarians who have accepted the Empire's offer of citizenship in exchange for nominal conversion are known as the Forsaken by quarians onboard the Migrant Fleet. The term derives from a habit of many such quarians abandoning traditions, which are often held as sacred within the fleet. These traditions include Pilgrimage or reverence to their ancestors. Many of the Forsaken have also abandoned the dream of retaking the ancient quarian homeworld of Rannoch.

Imperial converts enjoy full legal status and protection within the Empire, as well as receiving specialized medical care. While the Forsaken are generally looked down by the Migrant Fleet, many quarians on their Pilgrimage gravitate towards the Empire, due to ready support system by the Forsaken and easier job opportunities.

**Codex: Star Empire Military - Ground Forces - Experimental Weaponry**

The Empire has begun experimenting with new GARDIAN systems lately, two significant designs being within public knowledge. The first and most widely accepted design is the Paladin Conqueror, a variant of the Conqueror Tank which has sacrificed its kinetic barriers in favor of a GARDIAN system. The design is still experimental, but the GARDIAN lasers have proven to be potentially effective pairing with its armor, the former stopping heavy weapons fire while the latter shrugs off small arms. However, it is noted to be weak against rapid fire weapons of enough power to threaten the armor as well as fast moving projectiles that the onboard VI cannot track.

The second design is more controversial due to its expense and highly experimental nature. The Archimedes Mobile Laser System (affectionately known as "Archimedes' death ray") is a GARDIAN system on a ground chassis designed to put out an offensive laser attack. However, the power and heat required and resulting from the laser usage means it has a very low rate of fire, when it does not simply fail to fire. This, along with the significant material investment, means that the Empire is loathe to use them in battle. As General Adrien Victus said after a war game with the Star Empire; _"If they pull out an Archimedes, you're either hitting a place that's developing the system or you're about to see a heat sink hurled your way."_

Both of these designs have been met with skepticism from their counterparts in the turian, asari, and salarian militaries due to the inherent instability of the GARDIAN systems in comparison to standard mass accelerators and kinetic barriers. However, if successful it is predicted that others may adopt the concepts and look into integrating it into their own militaries.


	7. Priority: New Syracusae

As they left the captain's cabin, Etel turned to Williams.

"Thank you, for siding with me in there. I know we have our differences but... I appreciate this," she said.

"No need to thank me. I know how important family is to people. I still keep regular contact with my own and if any of my family disappeared... I would want them to be found," Williams said, waving her hand as if to dismiss the matter. "Still, how do you know this Rael'Zorah?"

"It's a long story, one I would rather not talk about in detail. I was young, around fifteen years old, and I bit off more than I could chew," she explained, shaking her head. "Rael helped me big time and I have been in his debt ever since. My father hired him, as a thanks, to work with the terraforming process. We are actually ahead of schedule thanks to his improvements to VI's."

Williams nodded. "I see. You two know each other well? I mean, I am not that familiar with the system, but... I don't think just anyone can meet a noble on short notice."

"Yes. Normally it takes longer, you have go through the court first, but I have been close friends with Rael ever since I knew him. Did you know he used to be an admiral in the Migrant Fleet?" Etel said, turning to Williams whose eyes went wide at the news. "Yeah, surprised me too when he finally told me. Joined the Empire to give his daughter a better life than what the Migrant Fleet could offer."

"I see... What about your family?"

"My family... well, we are nobles. We have our duties. Leto is studying so he can succeed father and enjoying the freedom he has until then. Basil and Junior, well, they are running their own things though if something happens to Leto, they might end up succeeding my father," she explained, shrugging her shoulders. "I was the fourth child so, there was no clear course for me. Either get married off to some nobleman for the sake of politics or build a career of my own, maybe even managing to forge a new house as an offshoot of my own if I did well enough," she curled her lip briefly, considering the sheer difficulty of that option. "Marriage didn't sound inviting, though not for lack of my mom trying to find someone, so I ended up in Hospitallers. I wanted to help people, and breaking slavers was as a good way to do so as any. Besides," she held up her hand and created a small biotic barrier around it to make her point, "I've got this, and if I went and got married I probably wouldn't be using my full potential."

"If you don't mind me saying so, your mother doesn't sound very nice," Williams said, before wincing as she realized what she had just said.

"Hm?" Etel cocked her head in confusion. "She wants me to have a good life, a place where I belong. I can't see how that's not being nice. I mean, it's better than just leaving me to fend for myself."

"Getting married to seal some political alliance?"

"Well, I could be useful in securing an alliance for my House, blood ties are important," Etel said, before realizing what Williams meant. "Oh no, I would not be _forced_ into marriage. For God's sake, this isn't the 12th century. Mom would simply bring the suitors in, I talk with them, and if they sound nice maybe meet them some more and with a little luck it'll help seal a deal. Even then, I would not be told who to marry. I met few a nice guys, but in the end..." she trailed off.

"Decided you'd rather fight then put on the white dress?" Williams supplied.

"Yeah," Etel shrugged. "I mean, I'm not opposed to getting married if I find the right person, but I'd rather make my own path instead of just having to find a guy, you know?"

"I think I know what you mean," she said as they were about to walk up to the CIC. Williams glanced back as Nihlus walked out of the captain's quarters and she curled her lip. "Excuse me, I need to talk to Anderson about something."

Etel paused, then nodded. "Go ahead."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Captain, I need to ask you something. About something Harkin said."

Anderson paused, frowning as he looked at her. "I know that tone. He said something that's eating away at you, isn't he?"

"It is," she admitted. "I mean, I know it's probably bullshit, but it just… it just fits somehow."

"What did he say?"

"He said that the Empire was trying to get my grandfather to defect, and that he blackmailed the Alliance into not following through the charges against him. Bullshit, I know, but… we both know how politics works. He should have been scapegoated," she had heard that too many times in school. '_Your grandfather should have been discharged_' was probably one of the nicer things said to her then.

Anderson nodded slowly, a low 'mmmm' coming from him as he sat down on his bed and leaned back thoughtfully. "Have a seat," he said as he gestured to the chair at his computer. She took the seat.

"I'd be lying if I said the Empire didn't try to talk your grandfather into immigrating - they never phrased it like defection. It would only be defection if he gave them classified information which they were not asking for upfront, though I'm sure they would have pressed for any information he had," he shrugged. "How much did Harkin say they offered?"

"Said that they were more or less offering a full noble title," she grit her teeth. "He's telling the truth about that, isn't he?"

"The Empire made a very big offer, and I bet Shepard has confused you as being a noble of some sorts because of your grandfather."

"To be fair, she was curious if you were too, given the whole 'sir' thing," the two chuckled briefly at the thought before taking deep breaths and returning to a more sober tone.

"Well, you can't blame her for culture shock. But Harkin was more or less telling the truth up until the point he said that he blackmailed the Alliance brass. As far as I can tell, he never told anyone except maybe your parents about it, so anything I can share is secondhand knowledge and my thoughts," he paused a moment to let it sink into her. "You were born in 2056, right? So, you would have just been a baby. I can't say for certain, but my guess is that by the time you would have been old enough to understand, there was no point. Maybe they tried to bury it."

"So what, you're saying Harkin was right about my family?"

"Absolutely not!" Anderson leaned forward with a hard look on his face. "Harkin's a menace. I'm amazed - and proud - that you didn't put him in the hospital for that bullshit. If anything, it was a sign of how loyal your family is considering the shit you still get from those idiots in mansions voting on expenditure bills before having a night at the opera," he paused, glancing towards the door briefly before shaking his head and turning back to her. "Your grandfather didn't have to blackmail the Alliance at all - high command recognized the major threat of them being stupid about Shanxi and clamped down on the charges themselves without your grandfather ever having to threaten them with defection or anything like that."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ashley asked, unable to avoid a sense of betrayal even though she knew better. "I mean, don't I have a right to know?"

"You did," Anderson admitted, audibly disappointed, "but it never came up and if your family didn't tell you, I didn't feel it was my place to do so since I don't know the whole story. You'll have to ask your mother if you really want the details."

Ashley nodded slowly. "I understand. Still, thank you for explaining it. I shouldn't have trusted Fist so far."

"Your gut instinct about it was good, though," he pointed out as he looked towards the door. "Sometimes the most painful way to hurt someone is with the truth. By the sounds of it, Harkin tried to do just that but jumped the gun a bit too far and made things up to try and make it hurt more. The question is, what're you going to do with this knowledge?" The cabin was silent for a few moments before Anderson rose. "We've got duties to get back to, and this goose chase that you talked us into with Shepard. You better get ready for it. Take eight hours as well, Joker says we won't be in Imperial territory for at least that long."

"Yes sir," Ashley rose and saluted before being dismissed.

As she reached the door, Anderson said one more thing. "And by the way, I understand you're restricting access that our two new recruits have?"

"Just to engineering and anywhere else you deem classified," she said, turning around. "I'd say no CIC, but they need to go through that. They don't need to go into the drive core."

Anderson nodded slowly. "I'll support you on this, but be diplomatic about it. Nothing more, Williams."

She saluted again and walked out. She needed some sleep anyways after all the running around they had done since landing on the Citadel. She walked out and found Kaidan and Jenkins leaning against the walls of the mess hall, talking over something.

"So Jenkins, I hear you have a project in mind?" Kaidan asked curiously.

"Yeah," the younger marine said with a wide grin, "I know, it probably won't be useful in a fight, but we got the tech to make it work."

"You talking about that nerdy hi-ex gun?" Ashley asked as she walked by. She knew about it; Jenkins had been talking to her about the feasibility of it.

"Pretty much," Jenkins admitted. "I mean, come on, we've got an Empire out here…"

Kaidan shook his head. "Any similarities are superficial at best. Besides, cool as it would be I'm not sure we should be spending too much time at it," Despite what he said, it was clear he otherwise liked the idea.

"I dunno," Ashley said slowly, "I mean, I wouldn't do it for the reasons you're doing it Richard, but if we can get it to work maybe it'll be a nice surprise. I'm just concerned about the heat - high ex is labelled as increasing the heat output by 500%. With the right mods the ammo can essentially turn a sniper rifle into a miniature rocket launcher, but you have to replace the internals often."

"I take it you're helping him with it?" Kaidan asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Mostly because I'm better at modding than he is and it's a pretty ambitious project," she explained. Jenkins had sent her a note on the general idea earlier. "But I'm only handling the internals, if he wants to dress it up for a con that's all him," she gave him a pointed glare and the other marine simply shrugged.

"By the way," Jenkins added, adopting a more serious tone, "Thanks for what you guys did on Eden Prime. I know it might not seem like much running around with a Spectre hunting down another one, but…"

"Just doing our jobs," Kaidan said with a smile. "Besides, you helped stop those nukes. Most people join to defend their families. You actually got to do that and most of all, you _succeeded_."

"I know, but still… it meant a lot to me," he glanced at the mess hall's clock and nodded to himself. "I should head down to the engineering bay; Adams wanted me for heavy lifting and I'd rather put some distance between me and our resident knight in outdated armor."

"Go ahead," Ashley said with a nod. "You have the access, but keep a lid on it with the comments, we're heading to an Imperial colony."

"We are?" he asked in surprise before catching himself. "Uh, yes ma'am. Where to specifically?"

"Colony called New Syracusae in Argos Rho," Ashley explained. "We may or may not land, though, depending on what happens."

"Syracus_ae_?" Jenkins asked with a frown, emphasizing the end of the name. "You meant Syracuse, right?"

"Probably an archaic spelling," Kaidan said with a shrug. "Spellings change over the years."

"True," Jenkins admitted. "But don't worry about me, ma'am, I won't cause any problems," he saluted and walked off. Once he was walking around to the elevator Kaidan turned to her.

"So," Kaidan said, "we're heading relatively deep into Imperial space, huh?"

"Yeah," she shrugged. "Mostly since we don't have anything better to do and Shepard had something come up. Any… problems I should be aware of?"

Kaidan shook his head. "Nah, they signed the Citadel Conventions so there's nothing illegal there with me. Besides, they're not going to know unless I taunt them over it. I have no intention of doing so. I'm more worried about you and Jenkins, though."

She frowned. Jenkins made sense, but her? "What are you talking about?" it took her a moment to realize what he was talking about. "Oh. Uh, how much did you see on the Presidium?"

"Not much, Nihlus sent me to grab Shepard's cloak, remember? Though it did look like it took a turn for the worse when I got back," Kaidan commented as he leaned back on the wall.

"Yeah," she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Kinda surprised we can work together given that. I mean, I guess we're both just professionals, but…"

"You ended up supporting her on heading to the Empire, didn't you?"

"Yeah," she admitted, surprised at Kaidan's insight. "I mean, it wasn't for her sake - if it was one of my sisters on the line I'd hope someone would do this for them."

"Uh huh," Kaidan said with a disbelieving scoff. "I'm sure it was."

She frowned. "What are you saying, Kaidan?"

"I'm just saying that I'm sure you were just doing what you thought was right," the junior officer said with a smirk. "Why would I say anything different?"

She just rolled her eyes and sighed. "I think I'm just going to go take those eight hours that Anderson told me to take…"

Kaidan nodded. "I'll wake you if anything happens," a yawn that followed told her he might be considering some sleep himself.

"Thanks," she turned towards the sleeping pods before pausing, "Oh, and Kaidan?"

"Yeah?" He was standing to his full height now instead of leaning on the wall.

"You were right about Harkin, though you know that sod about legends, right?"

"A grain of truth?" He asked as she nodded. His eyes widened briefly before he simply shrugged. "Well, it's not my business. You can tell me when you're ready, Commander."

"Thanks."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"_Any luck?"_ Joker asked as Etel tried again to connect to New Syracusae.

"None," she answered as she shook her head. "Alright, patch me through to Imperial Customs. Which relay are we taking?"

"_We'll be heading into Empire space through Relay 403, coming out in Argos Rho,"_ Joker answered. _"Who's the lordling in charge there?"_

"Not sure off the top of my head," Etel answered as she checked her omni-tool and nodded. "Okay, give me the connection Sinai-Six-Six-Apostle-Four."

"_Read again?"_

She frowned. "Aren't all pilots trained in military alphabet?"

"_Yeah, I think we're speaking different ones. Say it again, slower, maybe I can translate."_

"Sinai, Six, Six, Apostle, Four."

"_Okay, so, S, Six, Six, A, Four?" _

"You got it."

"_Okay, in Alliance that'd be Shock, Six, Six, Alpha, Four,"_ he paused and the communications screen switched and they were put on hold. Joker began to hum a tune as they waited before an image materialized of a minor Imperial officer who looked bored out of his mind.

"_This is Imperial Customs station _Medina_ for Argos Rho; who's calling?"_

"Sir Shepard, Knight of the Knights Hospitaller."

"_Ah,"_ the officer paused before lowering his head. _"Good day, Sir Knight. How can I help you?"_

"I'm on board an Alliance vessel and we are coming into Imperial space through Argos Rho to the colony of New Syracusae. This is primarily a courtesy call; we have a Council Spectre on board."

"_Understood. ETA to arrival?"_

"_Eight hours, Council standard,"_ Joker chimed in.

"The ship's pilot," Etel explained to the confused official.

"_Understood. Vessel designation, pilot?"_

"_SSV Normandy."_

"_Understood; we have you logged. Purpose of taking an Alliance vessel into our territory, Sir Shepard?"_

"Primarily a favor to me," Etel explained. "And we may need to move out quickly due to our mission for the Council."

"_Understood. Once you come out of the relay contact this station to confirm the Spectre's authorization, we will want to speak to him or her personally. Just part of the protocol. Additional questions may be asked. Comply and there will be no need for close inspection or boarding, but remember…"_

"... Anything illegal they do is on me, I understand," Etel finished. "Is there anything else?"

"_No. Have a good day, Sir Shepard,"_ the transmission cut.

"_Well, that went well,"_ Joker commented. _"So uh, what means trouble? I don't need to wear a turban or anything, do I?"_

She just rolled her eyes. "Maybe you need to work on quality over quantity with your jokes. Okay, let's try Tali's number again. It's not like her to not pick up," again, she did not answer. Not even voicemail.

"_Slumber party?"_ Joker teased as Etel cut the connection from her end.

"Let's hope it is something that innocent," she answered. "Okay, let's try the colony proper… maybe they just had a comm buoy accident or something."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, uh, Garrus," Jenkins said as he walked over to where the turian was busy calibrating the Mako's main gun, "How's it feel being on a human ship?"

Garrus turned to look at the human. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've been properly introduced."

"Oh, sorry. I was in the hospital when you met Williams and Alenko," Jenkins offered a hand. "Corporal Richard Jenkins."

Garrus took it and shook. "Garrus Vakarian, ex C-Sec."

"Ex? What happened?"

"Working with your superior officers," he explained as he leaned against one of the Mako's tires. "Nihlus and our new krogan friend helped us bust in and take back the data proving Saren was dirty."

"And you decided to jump ship?"

"No, I had enough of C-Sec's bullshit," Garrus answered, startling the marine. "If the Executor had simply not stood in my way, we might have gotten Saren with the first trial instead of having to wait for him to completely escape."

"So, what insane stunt did Nihlus do with you?" the young marine asked wide eyed. "Should have seen what he did on Eden Prime."

"Nothing too fancy, Fist and his men were probably not much compared to the geth or these Collectors."

"Yeah, the geth dropped in this big ass unit, a Prime I think is what he called it. That thing just wouldn't die!" Jenkins began and Garrus realized he had just walked into what would likely be another tall tale of Spectres doing impressive, and downright crazy, feats.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Lieutenant, a moment?" Pressley asked. Kaidan paused and turned.

"What is it, Ensign? You've got permission to speak freely," Kaidan said as he folded his arms.

"It's the aliens we brought on board, sir," Pressley explained. "Is it really a good idea? I mean, I can swallow a Spectre given the Lieutenant-Commander, but that other turian? A krogan?"

"You have any problems with aliens?" Kaidan asked with a frown.

"No, not like that, but… Saren attacked one of our colonies. Humans have always stood on our own. We shouldn't need the help to take him down," the navigator explained. "I mean, at least that knight's human," he paused as he rubbed his chin, a smirk crossing his face before he caught it. "Even if the idea still makes me want to laugh."

"If humans are supposed to stand on their own, why does the Empire rely so much on companies like Elkoss Combine for their small arms?" Kaidan asked as he frowned at the navigator, "Asking for help being a sign of weakness is a stupid concept. That just makes us weaker, stops us from growing. The Empire, no matter what people say about them, needed to be helped by the Council and they recognized that."

"True," Pressley admitted with a shrug. "I might just be old fashioned. A bit surprised the LC went for it, though."

"She limited their access to engineering," Kaidan pointed out. "She's mostly worried about security. They could be from the Alliance and she'd probably still tell them to stay out of the drive core."

The navigator nodded. "True. But don't worry, I won't cause any problems. I'm just concerned."

"Fair enough. Carry on, Pressley."

"Yes sir."

Kaidan moved on to the communications suite behind the CIC, Shepard still working on trying to reach her friend.

"_Call me paranoid, but…"_ Joker was saying over the comms.

"Something's wrong," Shepard said with a nod. "Either there was a complete system crash or something is actively cutting the colony off."

Kaidan paused. "How long were you at it?"

Shepard turned and paused before nodding to him. "A while, now."

"Maybe you should just take a break," he suggested. "Get some sleep, maybe, or at least relax a little. If it's just a system crash then it will probably be back up soon."

Shepard paused, then nodded. "Thanks," she winced, putting a hand on her head. Kaidan leaned forward immediately.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing," she said, waving her hand. "Just feedback from the beacon, I think. The images from it seem to come back randomly."

"Maybe you should get some sleep…"

She nodded. "At least a few hours, yeah. That might help. Joker?"

"_Yeah, I'll keep the line going, refresh it every once in a while. If something happens I'll comm you."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Several Hours Later**

Ashley, Jenkins and Shepard were just finishing their meal when Shepard looked over her omni-tool.

"Excuse me," she said. "I need to leave you for a moment."

"Prayer time?" Ashley asked, receiving a nod from Shepard, who picked up her tray. After depositing it to its correct place, Shepard left for the sleeping pods.

"Can't believe they still cling to religion like that," Jenkins muttered. "I mean, hello? We're in the space age!"

"What, just because we work in space we can't believe in a higher power?" Ashley shot back, surprising Jenkins. "Hello, have you looked out of the window? How can you see the galaxy and not believe in, I dunno, something?"

"Huh?" Jenkins asked with a frown, clearly confused. "Um, sorry?"

Ashley paused, curling her lip as she realized the uncalled for outburst she just had."Sorry, I've met people who have been weirded out by the fact I am religious. Some people can be quite vicious about it."

"You are?" Jenkins asked, his eyes wide. "Uh, I mean, I..." his shoulders slumped. "I made an ass of myself, didn't I?"

"Quite so," Ashley said with a grin, "but at least you were smart enough to not to say it in front of her," she nodding towards the sleeping pods.

"So... should I even ask?"

"Not much to say. I mean, if you heard the basics of Christianity, that's about it. No need to go into details."

He nodded. "Fair enough. I mean, our settlement on Eden Prime had a sizable Buddhist group, but they tended to stick to themselves. So I never really ran into religious people until I joined the navy."

"Most people tend to keep their religion to themselves, especially given the tension with the Empire," Ashley nodded. _Or perhaps because of it_, she considered.

"But still," Jenkins said, gesturing towards the sleeping pods, "the Empire has a state religion. Other aliens don't aren't really religious themselves, as far as I know."

"Yeah, the Empire has the whole state religion, but that doesn't mean it's not like they're some strange anomaly," Ashley explained, shaking her head. "You ever heard about the hanar?" she asked Jenkins, who shook his head. "They also have a theocracy, as far as I know. The Illuminated Primacy, though I don't know too much more than that."

"Okay, maybe they aren't alone with religion," Jenkins said raising his hands, "but they are the most vocal about it," Ashley nodded at Jenkins words.

"They certainly are, at least as far as we're concerned," she looked over towards where Shepard was. "Though, just mind what you say once we're in Imperial territory, alright?"

Jenkins nodded. "I will, ma'am, but if they start pushing me around…"

"Just act like a professional," she cut him off as she saw Nihlus walking into the medbay, "and if they do push you around while we're there, just smile and let me, Kaidan, or Anderson handle it."

"Yes ma'am."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Doctor Chakwas," Nihlus said as he entered the medical bay.

"Ah, Spectre Kryik," the human doctor said with a nod as she was working on her computer. "What can I help you with?"

"You have the required training to perform medical procedures on non-humans, correct?" he asked as he folded his arms, glancing to the medi-gel dispenser.

"Plenty, most Alliance doctors take courses in alien biology even if we do not specialize," she explained as she turned the console and Nihlus could see it was what looked like a chart for krogan biology. "I've been re-familiarizing myself with it given yourself, Vakarian, and Wrex."

Nihlus nodded. "Thank you. However, I am concerned about our long term supplies. The dextro-amino supplies was meant for one, not two and it may turn into three."

"In the worse case scenario, we can buy off the shelf," she answered. "Though, if you have any reliable sources that you could share it might be useful to have."

"I'll keep it in mind and if we head anywhere that I have contacts, I'll be sure to let you know."

Chakwas nodded. "Good. Though, a fair warning: I'm not trained for the autopsies of unknown aliens, so if we need to dissect a husk or these Collectors…"

"We'll need a specialist," the Spectre finished as he realized what she was saying and nodded. "I understand."

"Thank you. Also, Vakarian and Wrex need to forward me their medical history. I can ask them myself, but if you're heading down to engineering…"

"I'll tell them," he said as he turned. He needed to modify the ammunition of his Phaeston rifle anyways. "Thank you for your time, doctor."

"Not a problem."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, Wrex, how much experience do the krogan have with the Star Empire?" Kaidan asked as he adjusted his hardsuit's kinetic barriers.

"No formal dealings," the krogan rumbled. "I did do some mercenary work against them during their Batarian Crusade, though."

"Really?" Kaidan had a hard time believing Wrex was that old. "Wasn't that a few hundred years ago?"

"Krogan live a long time," he answered with a nonchalant shrug.

"That's… not going to be a problem, is it?" Kaidan asked uneasily as he considered the possible problems.

"Only if she brings it up. It was just another job," Wrex simply gave Kaidan a blank stare and he nodded to himself. Wrex did not want to share, and Kaidan knew better than to prod him as he finished opening the panel to access the kinetic barrier's circuitry.

"So, Lieutenant," someone said behind him and Kaidan almost jumped into the air as he was shaken out of his work. He put down the tools and turned around to see Garrus standing there, leaning on one of the support beams in the engineering bay.

"Oh, Garrus, something wrong?"

"No, just making small talk," Garrus explained as he glanced to the hardsuit. "You put out some impressive biotic power in Chora's Den. Not many humans can cancel out and overpower an asari in biotics."

Rubbing his head as he was reminded of the migraine he had suffered afterwards as a result of that brawl, Kaidan shrugged. "Thanks, I think."

"L2 implant?" Garrus asked.

"Yeah; how'd you guess?"

"Dealt with a few L2 extremists who were taking their anger out on any Alliance or Imperial politician they could get their hands on," the turian explained as he pushed himself off the support beam. "They hated the Alliance for rushing it and the Empire for not providing implants suited for humans."

"I always thought the Alliance just didn't want to buy off the shelf," Kaidan said with a frown, a nagging idea that it was not only mere pragmatic self-sufficiency but also pride that lead to the BAaT program. "You know, have our own production so we aren't reliant on outsiders for unlocking biotic potential. Actually learn it instead of just being given the textbook."

"That's the official story," the turian said with a shrug, "But if L2 implants put out as much power as you or those extremists had… it was a mistake to switch to the L3 as the standard."

Kaidan scowled at the turian. "No, the L3s might be weaker but they're a lot safer and there's a few who can clock in with the working L2s."

The turian paused, surprised at the swift counter. "The Alliance will be judged by the sacrifices it is willing to make, Lieutenant. The L3 series was seen as a sign of weakness and unwillingness to make mild sacrifices for the power to do great things."

"Never thought I'd agree with a C-Sec officer," Wrex said casually as he looked over towards them. "You don't stop using a gun just because the recoil has a little kick."

"Uh huh," Kaidan answered as he curled his lip. "And I bet that neither of your people lost biotics to poor implants."

"Not many biotics amongst the turians," Garrus answered, "though, those we have tend to be close knit. Not a lot of trust towards them."

"Not many krogan biotics left either," Wrex added dourly. "I'm one of the few Battlemasters for a reason, and I was one of those who didn't get them artificially."

"Artificial biotics?" Kaidan asked, turning towards the krogan in surprise. "I thought that couldn't be done."

"It can be," the krogan explained as he folded his arms, "but the procedure killed nineteen out of twenty who underwent it."

"As you might expect, the genophage put a stop to that," Garrus added, earning a glare from Wrex.

"... Right," Kaidan said, "Uh, I need to finish with my armor, so I'll talk to you later?"

"Alright," Garrus said with a shrug as the elevator opened and Nihlus stepped out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Several Hours Later**

As the _Normandy_ cleared the last relay, Ashley, Anderson, Nihlus and Shepard were all stationed around the CIC. Anderson had taken his position above the crew overlooking the primary display, while the others were standing around the central console.

"Sir Shepard, if you would?" Anderson said. Shepard entered her contact number into the system again.

"_That's weird,"_ Joker said by comms. _"I am not getting anything. Not even a failure ping."_

"Impossible! That would mean that that all the comm buoys in the entire system are gone - every single one and the land based transmitters!" Shepard objected.

"Joker, shut down active sensors and switch to stealth. I do not like this," Anderson ordered. "I'd rather ask forgiveness than walk into an ambush."

"Sir, I do not think Empire would..." Shepard began before Anderson shook his head.

"I do not believe the Empire is doing this. Joker, keep an eye on the sensor readings and stay out of range of the colonized planets."

"_Aye aye, Captain."_

After a tense fifteen minutes spent watching the main display in awkward, tense silence, Joker once again spoke.

"_Well, I got good news and bad news."_

"Gives us the good news first," Anderson said.

"_Good news is that I now know why we couldn't contact our target. Bad news is that we've got geth ships in orbit. That's why; everything is jammed tighter than a pickle jar."_

"Geth?! Here? How?" Shepard asked, looking horrified and Ashley could sympathize with the fear Shepard was showing. "What about the colony?"

"_Hey, I can pick out geth energy signatures and outlines, but these things aren't oracles."_

"What should we do, sir?" Ashley asked, looking up to Anderson for orders. "It doesn't look like the Empire knows about this attack either."

"True. They would have warned us by now if they had," Anderson said, putting a hand on his chin thoughtfully.

"The geth must want something from there," Nihlus said, looking over the data the sensor suites were picking up. "It doesn't seem like they are bombarding the place. Most doctrines call for orbital strikes to break major positions if there is no fleet interference."

Anderson nodded grimly. "I remember; orbital strikes to take out individual fire teams."

"Exactly," Nihlus answered with a nod. "But the geth aren't doing that. Just maintaining holding positions. They must want something down there, and they want it intact."

"But what? I mean, New Syracusae is relatively old, but it doesn't have anything special on it," Shepard commented, frowning as she looked at the tactical display of the planet. "This isn't Eden Prime where there was a beacon."

"Exactly. I think we should find out just what it is the geth want," Nihlus said as he held a hand in front of his chin thoughtfully. "Captain, do you think you could drop us in?"

"Joker?"

"_No worries. We already did it once, why not twice?"_

"We should take the Mako. Last time we had a problem with transportation and extra firepower never hurts," Ashley added as she considered what had happened the last time. "Can you provide us with air support?"

Anderson looked over the data, before shaking his head. "No, the _Normandy _might be good, but even she can't deal with the four geth ships we are picking up, not without support. We will drop you in and then get out. We'll try to contact the Empire's military and get some help."

"You might be able to hop back to the _Medina_," Shepard supplied, "call them and tell them what happened. This is their area and we know that their comms are intact at least."

"_Roger that. You might want to suit up now, once we're in orbit I'm going to airdrop you. Anywhere in particular?"_

"Try outside the capital," Shepard said as she looked at the display. "Close enough that we can drive there and assess the situation better. That looks like where the fighting is heaviest. Plus, we would be able to link up with the local duke and find out what's going on."

"_Got it. Pressley?"_

"I'm already looking for an ideal landing zone," the navigator said from his station at the display.

"Shepard, this is Imperial territory, so you'll take the lead," Nihlus said. Ashley paused, wanting to object to being sidelined, before nodding slowly. She understood why Shepard needed to take the lead this time, even if it did place her under an Imperial.

"I understand," Shepard said with a nod. "We'll probably need two teams as well, we have a rather large squad."

"Let's figure it out in the engineering bay," Ashley said as she turned towards the stairs, "we need to get our hardsuits on ASAP."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Half an Hour Later**

"Okay, systems check?" Etel asked as she entered the Alliance's M-35 Mako. Alenko was at the passenger seat while Williams was at the wheel and Jenkins was on the gun. They had all synced their hardsuits together, and Shepard could see the critical vital sign displays in her helmet's heads-up-display. If anyone got badly wounded, her HUD would warn her.

"All's green," Alenko answered as he turned to look at her. "We're ready to drop. Joker?"

"_Coming up on the target now. Get ready to freefall!"_

"Oh, good," Wrex rumbled with a grin. His helmet was lying at his feet and secured with a clamp attached to it. "I was wondering how I would get my adrenaline rush today. Why don't I man the gun again?"

"Because you don't fit?" Jenkins offered from the gunner position. Etel turned to him in surprise as the krogan growled. "Uh, well, hey, it's not our fault we didn't build this for big, tough guys."

"Uh huh," the battlemaster shook his head.

"Anyways," Garrus asked from his seat on the other side. "This thing's built for orbital drops, right?"

"As long as we've got about a hundred meters to land, yes," Alenko explained as he was flipping switches and the all-terrain infantry fighting vehicle began to rumble. "Okay LC, whenever you're ready."

Etel sat down across from Nihlus, next to Wrex as the turian Spectre nodded slowly. "Just remember, Sir Shepard is in charge of the mission once we're on the ground."

"I know," Williams answered hotly as the engineering bay door opened. "Okay, we're ready to drop. Shepard?"

Etel nodded. "Go ahead, Commander. Get us down there."

"Hang onto your seats and keep your lunch inside!" she said as the Mako lurched and was launched from the engineering bay like a projectile as the _Normandy_ leveled off briefly. As soon as they were out of the bay, the _Normandy_ rose vertically and the Mako was in free fall. Even with her experience with being dropped in Lionheart APCs from Galleon dropships during her missions for the Hospitallers, Etel's stomach still churned as they fell to the planet's surface. Williams activated the Mako's thrusters, slowing them down for a landing. The Mako buckled as it hit the ground, bouncing briefly on its suspension. Thankfully the internal mass effect generator kept them vertical and prevented them from crashing around too hard inside. The _Normandy_ flew off into the distance and they quickly lost sight of it in the smoke rising from the bombarded capital and the storm grey sky of New Syracusae.

"Anyone's internals external?" Alenko asked as he looked back with a grin.

"Nope, I'm good!" Garrus answered as he put a hand on his head. "Next time I'm wearing my helmet when we drop…"

"Nihlus, can you link the Mako's tactical display to your omni-tool?" Etel asked as she leaned forward. The Spectre nodded and activated his omni-tool and Alenko pressed a button on his console as it lit up. A holographic projection displayed itself in the middle of the Mako's compartment.

"Okay then, it looks like we landed on the outskirts of the city," she said as she looked over the display. Their landing zone was on the south end of the city, with most of the fighting occurring to the north and east. Looking around, it was clear that they were just outside where the city began to become a proper urban region instead of just suburbs, but even the suburbs of the grassy world had been blasted by artillery fire. There was a wrecked and burning tank painted with Imperial colors - grey with gold accents - nearby. Debris littered the battlefield and houses had large holes blown into them.

"Which way should we go?" Williams asked. "Looks like we need to head north, maybe edge towards the northeast if we want to get into the fray."

"We should head in towards the city, see what we can find-"

"Watch out!" Jenkins shouted. "Geth contacts, five o'clock! Light infantry!"

"Fire the main gun and finish them with the machine gun!" Etel ordered as Williams had her mouth open, before she shut it, looking annoyed.

Jenkins whirled the main gun around and with a loud thud the main gun fired, followed by a rapid burst as he whooped loudly. "Take that you synthetic tin-cans!"

"Good hit!" Alenko called. "One left on the display."

"I see him - he's in the building…" Williams said before the Mako suddenly launched into the air.

"What was that?" Nihlus called, the display he was showing shaking as his arm was shoved against the armrest by the sudden thruster use.

"Rocket launcher!" Williams shouted as the Mako came down and drove forward, Jenkins swiveling the turret around and firing the main gun one more time.

"Gotcha motherf-"

"Easy, Corporal," Etel interrupted as she shook her head. "And good eyes, Williams. Just warn us next time."

"No promises if I have to react suddenly," she answered, "but I'll try. You said head north, northeast, right?"

"Correct," Etel answered as she began syncing her omni-tool to the display and putting it out herself. They began driving up, meeting little resistance other than the squad of geth that had either probed them or they had happened to land next to.

"Someone cleaned house here," Williams said as they drove by a bombed out apartment building as they entered the city proper. "There's blood and debris from fights, but no bodies."

"I got a feeling we'll see husks real soon," Alenko chimed in.

Etel felt a pit form in her stomach… and anger as she knew Alenko was right. "Keep your eyes open, then."

"Damn, this place looks like shit," Jenkins commented. "And the storm clouds don't make this place feel happy either."

"Really?" Wrex asked hotly. "Looks like paradise next to Tuchanka. Think I could get a vacation home here?" Jenkins simply shut up after the krogan's deadpan.

"I'm picking up contacts ahead," Alenko said and Etel saw it. A firefight from two ends of a large street with two or more story buildings lining both sides of it, wrecked skycars and a storm drain in the middle.

"I see them - looks like the local PDF is engaged with a geth attack group," Etel said as she nodded to herself. "Williams, Alenko, Jenkins, stay in the Mako and provide heavy fire support. The rest of us will hop out and go on foot to help them."

"Got it!" Williams answered as they ran over a wrecked skycar - the Mako bouncing around its occupants within as it did so - and skidded to a halt as Jenkins opened fire on the geth, blowing out a window that snipers were using for cover and sending a pair of flaming geth bodies flailing to their destruction two stories below. Etel grabbed her assault rifle and nodded to Nihlus as the Mako came to a halt. Wrex was first out, followed by Garrus, then Nihlus and Etel exited and hurried to the ruins as the Mako drove forward, running over a geth trooper and the stone barrier it had hidden behind as the main gun fired at a larger target.

"Watch out - Armature!" Nihlus warned as they all ran for cover.

"Williams, we've got a heavy unit!" Etel warned as she took cover behind a wall in an alley. "Take it out, we'll get the infantry!" Nihlus and Wrex followed her into the alley.

"_Got it!"_ Jenkins answered. Etel nodded to Wrex, who had his large and rather blocky assault rifle in hand.

"Local squad's on the other side of a firing line," the krogan rumbled. "The other turian is heading up a story in here to snipe," Etel could hear the Mako's thrusters and loud swearing in the distance.

"Okay then. Nihlus, Wrex, we're going to storm across. Garrus, keep them down from up there!"

"_Got it,"_ the turian sniper answered, _"just tell me when."_

"Three, two, one… _go go go_!"

The three sprinted out of the alley, geth pulse fire coming towards them. Nihlus used his jet boots to leap ahead of a large, bluish pulse from the Armature while both Etel and Wrex raised biotic barriers as their kinetic barriers were failing from the rifle fire they were taking. The three of them moved towards a large pile of rubble and dove behind it, crouching as a large man in dark grey armor came out from the other side of the wall they were running towards. He aimed a rifle at them before pausing and lowering it.

"God Almighty I never thought I'd be glad to see a krogan!" the soldier exclaimed, a desperate smile barely visible through his T-shaped visor. "Sergeant James Hawk, Imperial Army under the command of Duchess Khalisah of House al-Jilani, 1st New Syracusae Planetary Defense Force! I thought long range comms were jammed!"

"They are," Wrex barked as he rose from cover and fired a burst from his high recoil assault rifle. High recoil for a human, at least, but easy for a krogan and the rounds punched into a geth trooper hiding across the street. Garrus picked off another geth in a building on that side of the street.

"Long story," Etel chimed in. "Sir Etel Shepard, Knights Hospitaller. I'm here with these two, another turian, and an Alliance squad. They're the ones with the IFV."

"So they're the ones that messed up my firing line?" he answered hotly. "Well I'm not complaining if they take out that walker thing!"

"Geth Armature," Nihlus supplied as he leaned out of cover and launched a tech attack across the street, hitting a geth with a rocket launcher and causing it to turn around and fire at the geth walker.

"Right, well, yeah," Sergeant Hawk answered with a shrug when a blue pulse from the Armature exploded above them, showering debris on them and causing their kinetic barriers to flicker. "Anyways, we've got a disabled Conqueror Tank here that we've tried to get working, but the crew got killed by those snipers you took out!"

"How bad?" she asked as both Wrex and Nihlus laid down a suppressing burst with their rifles.

"If we could get the engine running again it'd be good; we tried to set up the main gun like a turret but it's just not in a good position to provide fire support!" he turned as one of the other soldiers was running down from the floor above. "Where're you going soldier?!"

"Roof's about to fall in, we need to move!" the panicked soldier shouted.

The sergeant's eyes went wide and he nodded. "Follow me, come on!" He lead them through the building, geth ammo flying through the windows at them and the building began to fall, plaster and wooden beams crashing down. The soldier who had warned them took a round to the chest and fell and Etel skidded to a halt, grabbing him as the roof began to fall properly.

"Shepard!" Nihlus shouted as he and Wrex turned. Wrex's hands glowed and a large beam about to crush them suddenly stopped and she pulled the soldier out of there as her kinetic barrier dropped. A round went into her shoulder guard and she grunted as she took the hit, but didn't stop. She pulled the soldier out right as the building completely collapsed.

"That was reckless," Nihlus chided as the group gathered on the other side of the collapsed building, "but brave."

"Just get him some damn medi-gel!" she ordered and the sergeant nodded, omni-tool glowing as he knelt next to the soldier and began applying it.

"Damn it!" Hawk cursed, "He's gone - round went right through his heart and ruptured too much."

Etel caught her breath and collapsed onto the ground behind the rubble they had ended up behind, staring at the newly dead soldier. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Hawk said as he shook his head, flinching as geth rounds shot over their heads and Wrex answered it with a burst from his assault rifle. "You tried to save him. Anis knew the risks when he joined. Now then, let's drive these metal monsters back!"

"What about aliens?" Nihlus asked. "Collectors," he clarified at the blank look the sergeant was giving to him.

"The hell is a Collector?" Hawk asked in confusion before shaking his head. "Whatever they are, there's no aliens here, except you guys."

"What about deeper in?" Etel asked as she moved closer to an opening in the rubble where she could shoot from.

"No idea, we got stranded here trying to help civies and the tank crew!" Hawk answered as the two came to the opening and leaned out of cover, both spraying down rifle fire towards the geth. Another Imperial soldier ahead screamed as he went down, just as there was a loud explosion.

"_Scratch one walker and without a tow cable!"_ Jenkins shouted in Etel's earpiece.

"Armature just went down," Etel supplied when Hawk was giving her a confused look as she grinned. "Get to your squad, we'll mop up the geth then get a battle plan going!"

"Yes mi'lady!" Hawk answered. Etel rose and laid down covering fire with Wrex and Nihlus while Hawk ran over to the rest of his squad and they kept up the attack, the Mako now running around like a krogan in a salarian shop and squishing, blasting, and shooting the geth until they retreated, the last surviving geth platform that fell back going down as Garrus picked it off with his sniper rifle.

"Williams," Etel said into her headset as the last geth went down, "we've got some Imperial soldiers here. Bring the Mako around to the other side and meet up with us."

"_Understood; how many?"_

"At least one squad, we also might need the repair kit for the tank they have."

"_I'll get it,"_ Alenko answered as the Mako drove around to the other side of the buildings they were in. Etel, Nihlus, and Wrex met up with Sergeant Hawk in a bombed out building and she could see the tank they were talking about in surprisingly good shape given the fight they had just gotten out of.

"... And get Hasna patched up, we're going to need her missile launcher if we're going to take out those heavies pushing in deeper!" Hawk ordered as he turned, "Pierre, get off your ass and get back to the casualties, the shooting's over!" a freaked out corpsman nodded vigorously and shakily moved back where they came. Hawk turned and bowed his head. "Sir Shepard. We'll be ready for your commands in a few moments, I just need to get my squad patched up."

"Do what you need to do," she said with a nod. "What's the situation on the ground? What happened here?"

"They came out of nowhere," Hawk explained as he gestured for them to follow, leading them towards the tank. "One minute it was business as usual, the next thing we knew they were dropping out of the sky. The synthetics - geth, you said, turian?" Nihlus nodded, "Those geth came first, just dropped right out from their transports, no landing, infantry literally dropping down and getting up to fight. A lot of innocent people died when they started shooting."

Etel grit her teeth and nodded. "Where are the civilians now?"

"We evacuated them to the main base or got them into safety bunkers, or at least many as we could. My squad was with that tank covering a couple still escaping, but it broke down. Faulty maintenance."

"That we can fix," Nihlus said with a firm nod. "The Mako should have a sufficient repair kit. I assume that this Conqueror has omni-gel?"

"Yeah, they were using it to try and effect repairs when those things showed up," he paused, "You're planning on fixing it?"

"If we can," Etel said. "We'll need the firepower until we can get word out," they were at the tank itself now and the Mako rolled up, Garrus riding on the back and dropping down as it came to a stop and the rear hatch opened. Williams, Alenko, and Jenkins came out.

"All clear," Williams said and nodded to Alenko, who had a repair kit in hand.

"Good," Etel said with a nod. "Sergeant James Hawk, this is Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams, Systems Alliance. Lieutenant-Commander Williams, this is Sergeant James Hawk of House al-Jilani's command of the Imperial Army."

Hawk bowed his head. "A pleasure, mi'lady."

Williams sighed. "Likewise."

"Something wrong, ma'am?" Jenkins asked with a frown.

"Not the first time someone's assumed she's a noble or something," Alenko explained and Etel smirked faintly, remembering her own assumptions on the _Normandy._

"Oh. Right," Hawk said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I forgot you Alliance types don't have a social order," Etel tensed for a moment, looking over the Alliance troops.

Jenkins was about to speak up when Williams put a hand up and shook her head. "You said you needed the repair kit?"

"We have a tank right here," Etel said, nodding towards it and relaxing. "You have any engineers, Sergeant?"

He shook his head. "No, mi'lady. All of them were killed by those… geth you said, right?"

"Correct," Etel paused, considering her options. Nihlus, Garrus, and Alenko could all probably do it, but all three could also help elsewhere. "Nihlus, Garrus, can you two fix the tank while Alenko goes help with the wounded?" she could see the corpsman from earlier dragging the soldier she had tried to save from the falling building back to the makeshift command post.

"Not a problem," Kaidan said as he passed the repair kit to Garrus. The turian nodded, and the two of them walked over to the tank. Hawk leaned back and called to one of his men to join them as the remainder of the group looked at each other awkwardly.

"So," Hawk said, looking at Williams and Jenkins as explosions and gunfire could still be heard in the distance. "What's the Alliance doing here?"

"Mostly because we're the ride," Williams explained. "That turian in the red and black armor? He's a Spectre."

Hawk's eyes went wide. "Wait a minute, you're that ground team from Eden Prime, aren't you - the one on the news."

Etel nodded. "Correct, Sergeant, but we can't worry about that now. The _Normandy_ - the ship we were on - is heading out of system to pick up reinforcements and sound the alarm. Until then, we need to drive these hostiles back."

"Commander!" Alenko called, "We've got a lot of bodies and the corpsmen want to get them into a cellar - I warned them about those spikes and we need another set of hands!"

"Jenkins… ah, actually, you okay with him going?" Williams asked, looking to her. Etel shrugged and looked at Wrex.

"I'll go stand guard," the krogan rumbled as he walked off and Jenkins nodded, going to help Alenko.

"What about short-range comms?" Etel asked as she rubbed her chin, considering the situation.

"Working; but raising command has been somewhat hazy throughout the battle. I think the 3rd Syracusae Levy took out a jamming tower that the invaders were setting up."

She nodded. "Get us into contact with command as soon as you can…" an engine revved and they looked over to see that the tank was working.

"Okay, I think it's working!" Garrus shouted.

"Perfect!" Hawk said loudly, "Now we just need to crew it. But that can wait. We need to sync up comms," he activated his omni-tool, "Tune in to channel Legion-Two-One-Testament-Four."

"L, Two, One, T, Four," Etel supplied to avoid another miscommunication. Williams nodded and activated her omni-tool.

"Jenkins, Alenko, add the comm line Lima-Two-One-Tango-Four to your helmet radios; we're syncing up with the local garrison."

"_Copy that,"_ Alenko answered. Hawk nodded after a brief look of confusion.

"Okay then, you're on our channel now, so you'll be able to hear my squad and any major tactical orders." The sergeant glanced down at his rifle and adjusted the heat sink's vent briefly as he finished explaining.

Williams nodded. "Okay Shepard, we've got another tank and we're ready. What's our next move?"

"Support the defenses in any way we can. If we can find Tali, that'd be great too but until the colony is safe…"

"Tali?" a nearby soldier nursing an arm wound asked, "As in Tali'Zorah nar Rayya?"

Etel turned sharply, "You know her?"

"Yeah," he answered, "we ended up next to each other during a sermon and met afterwards. She's been doing some work for General Lionheart, but that's all she could tell me."

"Perhaps it's what the geth are searching for?" Nihlus offered as he walked up with Garrus behind him. "There has to be a reason they aren't bombarding this place."

"I thought they were harvesting us, putting us on those spikes," the soldier said as he shivered. "We had to gun a few people down when the spikes got pulled _out_ of them…"

"Husks. Brilliant," Etel growled. "Don't worry, we'll make sure that they pay for violating the dead like that."

"Amen to that," Williams said with a nod.

"A convert?" Hawk asked in surprise. Etel pursed her lips briefly as Nihlus cut in.

"You can argue theology later, right now we need to get moving and stop this attack. Can you link me to your command-"

A loud series of explosions cut them off as they all instinctively looked to the northwest where it had come from and could see the explosion.

"_Our Pericles' are down!"_ a panicked communications officer shouted, causing Etel to wince as her helmet's earpiece was overloaded briefly. _"We just lost the whole battery!"_

"_Calm down, adjutant!"_ an angry, but calm voice cut in. _"All units, this is Duchess al-Jilani, we just lost our artillery. Brace for another wave and hold the line! I want all units to report in!"_

"That's our call," Hawk said.

"Duchess al-Jilani," Etel said as she keyed her helmet, "This is Sir Etel Shepard, Knights Hospitaller. I picked up a squad of your men and we got a tank working. We're here to help until our ship can raise the alarm with the rest of the Empire."

"_Sir Shepard?"_ al-Jilani asked in surprise. _"I see. Reinforce our defenses, then. Geth artillery is striking at our front line in the city center. Civilians are still trying to get to safety through there and we need to buy them time to get the reserve siege supplies where they're needed."_

"Understood, we'll do what we can. Be aware, I have an Alliance team with me but they've agreed to operate under my command for the mission."

"_Then command them, knight. Al-Jilani out."_

"Okay then," Etel said as Alenko, Wrex, and Jenkins rejoined them. "Geth are pressing in on the city center and I suspect that there'll be some Collectors as well."

"Collectors?" Hawk asked with a frown. "You mentioned them before. You haven't actually explained what they are."

"Big, bug-eyed aliens. They hit Eden Prime as well," Jenkins supplied.

"Something new to fight," Wrex said with a dull shrug.

"Regardless," Nihlus cut in, "what about the geth artillery? Without counter-battery capabilities or air support, there's nothing preventing them from shelling any frontline that the locals can put out and we don't know how long it'll be until we can get reinforcements."

"They'll probably be able to bombard us and drive us back like that," Hawk cut in. "We're the ones who haven't seen heavy fighting, but the guys further in the city..."

Etel nodded. "Nihlus, do you think that you, Garrus, and Wrex could smash that artillery?"

The turian nodded. "We could, but we need some fast transport."

"Take the Mako," Etel said as Williams gave her a harsh glare. "We'll man the Conqueror and help Sergeant Hawk's men link up with the main force and blast the attackers back until reinforcements arrive."

Garrus and Wrex nodded, checking their weapons' heatsinks and in Garrus' case, making sure his omni-tool was working.

"So we're a tank crew now?" Jenkins asked in surprise as he looked at the hovertank. "I'm not complaining, though…"

Etel paused, considering if she should put Jenkins with Nihlus' team. _Keeping him here will only invite a fight,_ she thought as she knew his opinion of the Empire. _Then again, Alenko can rein him in…_

"Nihlus, do you want a fourth?"

He shook his head. "No, we're mostly going to need stealth and some sudden shock."

"Since when was I sneaky?" Wrex asked, almost pouting.

"Since you became a Battlemaster and a wise, experienced krogan warrior and not a young kid without a fully formed head plate," the Spectre answered without hesitation. Wrex grinned and nodded as the Spectre continued. "Besides, an all-human team in the city might work better. Less of a risk for friendly fire in the heat of the moment, especially since we're not locals or part of a larger reinforcement, and you'll be up against the full attack so you need him more than us."

Etel nodded. "Alright then. Good luck. As for us," she turned to the Alliance team, "we're going to man that tank unless Hawk has a crew of his own," the sergeant shook his head. "Alright then. Williams, I want you on the main gun and I'll drive. Jenkins, Alenko, you're on keeping it running and being our detach; if something happens you two hop out and deal with it or if needed help Sergeant Hawk's men. We're going to plow a path right through to the center of town and show Saren what humanity's made out of."

"Hooah!" Jenkins said, pounding a fist into his other hand with a grin.

Hawk nodded. "Alright men, form up on the tank! We're going to make a push and drive these sorry bastards right to the gates of Hell!"

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**End Chapter**

**Author's Notes: **

_So yes. The first major deviation from canon in terms of 'missions'. My co-authors and myself never intended to just directly lift from canon with the SE thrown in, but we did want to use a familiar framework as a silent measuring stick. With the prologue effectively out of the way, we can start looking towards our own sub-arcs in the overall race against time. That is not to say that places such as Feros, Noveria, Therum, and Virmire will not be seen, but it is safe to say that we will not be wholly limited to what canon did. And while some locations may stay the same, the context may change drastically._

_Some of you may have noticed that Ashley's stated year of birth is two years earlier than it was in canon. This was a get-around of an error in the official timeline of events found on the Mass Effect wiki, which gives Ashley's DOB as April 14th, 2158. However, her year of enlistment is stated as 2174… which would have her enlisting at 16. As we already established Ashley as having just under ten years of experience under Anderson's command based on that and believed the Lieutenant-Commander rank would be sufficient there (albeit probably newly promoted whereas canonical Shepard probably had the rank for a while), we decided it was the lesser of two evils to move her year of birth two years earlier and leave everything else the same as if we moved her enlistment forward it would have her way too highly ranked, even if she is an ICT graduate which tends to lead to a rapid rise through the ranks._

_Tali will have her first in-person appearance in the next chapter, but as like Mass Effect 2's recruitment missions, sometimes you don't meet the person you recruit until the later half of it - sometimes most of the mission is just getting there. After all, in Thane's mission we never met him until the very end, while in others meeting the person was the halfway point, such as for Garrus._

_As always, feedback is greatly appreciated and my co-authors and myself would like to thank FictionDevourer over on Spacebattles for beta-reading this chapter. He has gone over previous chapters, but the sub-arc with recruiting Tali will be completed before we make plans to go back and clean up previous chapters of various miscellaneous minor errors that were found._

_Thank you to The Night Hunter, .5, Voiddragon11, The Poarter, and ww1990ww for their reviews, as well as a thanks to everyone who has been reading the story and we hope you enjoyed the story so far._

_The Codex entries below focus on the Empire's ground forces, given that the next chapter will be very much about a ground battle, this can give you an idea of what the Empire's general ground combat is like. As always, optional reads for those who want the more detail._

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**Codex: Star Empire Military - Ground Forces - Infantry**

Infantry among the Star Empire are known for their strong discipline and zeal in battle. While the infantry lines of their history are no longer possible, Imperial soldiers are notorious for their ability to quickly dig in around an area, establish static defenses such as turrets, and then defend a location until relieved or the enemy breaks. When on the offensive, infantry rely on their Lionheart APCs to get close enough to the battle to engage on foot.

Imperial ground forces utilize a self produced armor pattern designated as Tiberius, though their weapons are often manufactured by Elkoss Combine. Standard issue for all Imperial soldiers is the Avenger and Scimitar lines of assault rifles and shotguns, while the more advanced weapons are supplied by the turian-owned Haliat Armory and are popular if they can be acquired. The Star Empire has so far made it a point to honor their agreement with Elkoss Combine and Haliat Armory for access to these weapons, though several wings of the Star Empire's military advocate for using their own designs instead of relying on standard "bargain bin" gear from outsiders. However, so far no Imperial organization has produced standardized equipment in sufficient quality and quantity to replace the current equipment line.

Supporting the infantry are cadres of engineers and biotics. Engineers are primarily non-combatant officers, though they do train with pistols regularly and in combat can deploy a variety of omni-tool based attacks if required. Imperial engineers primarily oversee the establishment of battle fortifications and the deployment of defensive turrets. Biotics, meanwhile, fill various roles based on the program they graduated from, ranging from assault specialists to serving as force multipliers.

**Codex: Star Empire Military - Ground Forces - Vehicles**

The Star Empire uses a variety of ground vehicles, which unlike their infantry weaponry, are self produced. The following vehicles form the core of the Empire's motor pool on the ground, but are often supported by auxiliary vehicles from local levies or more situational vehicles as the mission profile demands. To transport infantry across large battlefields quickly, the Empire uses Lionheart APCs which can be dropped from dropships as needed for quick effect on landings on planets. While unarmed, they sport a low powered GARDIAN laser to provide a point defense against rocket attacks. For artillery purposes, the Empire employs a mobile mass accelerator cannons (MMACs), with the Pericles being the current model in use. When engaged in extended ground combat, Conqueror class main battle tanks are used. These hovertanks are on the slow side for a modern ground combat vehicle, but it makes up for this deficiency with the ability to cross broken terrain without the wear and tear on tires as well as heavy armor.

**Codex: Star Empire Military - Ground Forces - Biotics**

The Star Empire's military biotics originate from one of two programs: Aegis Champion and Black Monk. While both programs seem to be more monastic than militaristic, the resulting discipline and focus is second only to the Turian Hierarchy's Cabals and Thessia's Asari Commando units, with few if any violent incidents while off duty sparking into biotic usage. Imperial biotics use the Imperial developed S9 series of implants, with the new S10 entering field testing as the first volunteers graduate.

Aegis Champion graduates use the S9n implant variant and are notorious for being close quarter assault specialists, using their biotics to give them effectively enough strength to engage krogan in close quarters. The Black Monk program, using the S9x, specializes its graduates in producing singularities, warping armor, working on crowd control, and using their biotics to shape the battle. While neither are on par with asari biotics, they are a powerful force multiplier and are always considered a welcome presence by the non-biotic soldiers in the Empire's service because of this.

Biotics in the Star Empire are accepted, with the Faith of Abraham's official stance being that biotics is _not_ witchcraft as many believed upon first contact with the asari, but an ability that is to be used responsibly as any other human talent. The intense discipline required by the Imperial's biotic training programs only helps this acceptance, as it is rare for biotics to hurt people in accidents. Biotics are rarer amongst the nobility as they tend to have less accidental exposure to Element Zero, but nobles who do have biotic power are statistically more likely to join a Chivalric Order or choose to serve in the Imperial Army.


	8. Priority: New Syracusae - Rendezvous

"So," Garrus asked as he was sitting in the gunner's seat in the Mako, "What's the plan for taking out the geth artillery?"

"Multiple options," Nihlus answered from the driver's seat as the Mako rumbled over the rocks. They had taken the long way around and entered a natural ravine. "We can blast it with the main gun, or we can get up close and use demo charges."

"Why not just use the main gun?" Wrex asked in the seat Kaidan had been in earlier. "Much smarter than trying to run up close."

"Depends on the kinetic barrier strength of the artillery," Nihlus explained as he activated the Mako's thrusters to get them out of the ravine, "and how many guards they have. If the artillery only has a few guards, it may be more effective to quietly wire them to blow."

"Hmpf," the krogan grunted. "Alright, I'll get comfortable until it's time to get out."

The drive was surprisingly quiet as they looped around the battlefield. "So, Garrus," Nihlus asked as they used the thrusters to leap over a broken farmhouse that looked like it had been bombed from the orbit, "I picked up that your father doesn't approve of what you're doing?"

Garrus nodded. "Yeah, he's taking my resignation hard as far as I can tell. Wouldn't have liked you anyways, especially after what we did at Chora's Den."

"Same opinion as Pallin, I take it?"

"More or less," Garrus admitted as he turned the turret around before nodding to himself as the crosshairs fell on some roaming farm animals. _Defenseless herbivores, no match for a tank…_ he thought in amusement.

"I see," Nihlus answered. "Reading your dossier, I noticed that you were a candidate for special training. What happened?"

Garrus blinked, surprised that Nihlus actually checked that. "Oh, that? Yeah, my dad didn't let me go through with it, he didn't want me to be a Spectre. Two guesses as to why."

"Strange; very few of those candidates end up becoming Spectres; most end up in Blackwatch or the Arminger Legion," Nihlus grunted as the Mako ran over a boulder, rocking them briefly.

"Yeah, that was my thought too, it's only training…" he paused as he saw something in the scope. "Heads up, I've got something in the distance."

"I see it," Nihlus said as he looked down at the Mako's radar. "Contacts, four hundred meters to the northeast."

"Looks like a forward operating base," Garrus said as he zoomed the Mako's scope in to get a better look on the FOB. "I think I can see some of those spikes that were on Eden Prime - oh that's just wrong!"

"What?" Wrex asked.

"Those spikes just retracted," Garrus explained as he closed his eyes, glad he saw it from far away where it was mostly just shapes instead of up close and personal. "We taking it out?"

Nihlus paused, then turned the Mako around towards it. "Yes, if we can cut off the source of husks that should give Shepard and Williams a better chance at holding the line. Wrex, you ready to ride on top?"

"Hmm?" the krogan said as if he was waking up from a nap. "What do you have in mind?"

"Move into the back and be ready to hop out. The husks should be easily avoided, but if they manage to get on top you'll need to get them off of the Mako."

The krogan nodded and unbuckled himself, worming his way through the gap with a somewhat tight squeeze before getting into the back and taking the seat he had used earlier when they landed. Once Wrex was through Garrus made sure he was strapped in as he aimed the Mako's turret towards the enemy forward operations base - which looked to be of geth prefabrication design, an air dropped prefab wall with a small building for command center purposes.

"No Collectors," Nihlus noted. "It seems the geth are filling in the cannon fodder role."

"Seems so," Garrus answered as he zoomed in on a geth platform in a tower "Got a geth rocket trooper in my scope!"

"Fire at will!" the Spectre ordered and Garrus squeezed the trigger of the main gun, firing the 155 millimeter mass accelerator, the geth infantry unit in his scope exploding into shrapnel. The rocket troopers on the remaining three perimeter turrets turned in response and began firing their rocket launchers. Nihlus activated the Mako's thrusters, launching them over the rockets as pulse rifle fire sailed up from the other geth platforms protecting the spikes within the geth forward operation base.

Whirling the turret around, Garrus fired again at another tower, blasting the geth rocket trooper out of it and sending it flaming into the spikes as they closed in. "Blast the gate down!" Nihlus ordered and Garrus complied, turning the main gun towards the closed gate and blowing a hole into the upper part of it, which was used as an opening for the Mako to jump into. It landed in the base itself as two rockets impacted the top of the gate as they came crashing through.

Wrex switched to his heavy shotgun as Nihlus ran over several husks, covering the Mako's tires with greyed gore and cybernetics. Garrus switched to the Mako's machine gun and began mowing down the geth infantry and husks in the way, shredding them by the limbs and midsection. He swept the gun over until it began giving him overheat warnings, at which point he switched back to the main gun and aimed it at a tower, blasting the geth platform manning it and the upper part of the tower to pieces.

"Wrex, I'm going to stop by the building, get out and secure the door!" Nihlus ordered.

"Sure, sure!" the battlemaster answered, "Just call when you need help!"

"If," Garrus retorted as he turned the gun and blasted the last tower apart. The Mako skidded to a halt and the back door opened, Wrex blowing away a husk with his shotgun before running out and head-butting another into the ground and engaging in a melee brawl as the Mako's door closed.

Garrus resumed firing with the machine gun as the last of the husks were down or busy trying to wrestle with a krogan battlemaster, but the surviving geth had managed to get into cover and were wearing down the Mako's shields with sustained fire from their rifles. More than they should have been able to maintain from weapon overheat.

"Shields are almost out!" Nihlus warned. "I'm going to park this thing, you're on foot from here!"

"Understood!" Garrus answered as he fired the main gun at a large crate, blowing it open and sending the geth hiding behind it flying into the base wall. He then let go of the controls and unbuckled himself from the gunner's seat. Nihlus was likewise removing himself from the driver's seat as the Mako was parked.

As the door opened, Garrus stormed out and took cover behind a crate as Wrex grabbed a husk that had tackled him and slammed it into the ground, crushing its head into a pulp beneath his boot. In cover, Garrus leaned out and picked off the last geth with a rocket launcher as the Mako's main gun came back to life as Nihlus manned the turret.

Within seconds, the perimeter of the geth forward operating base was quiet as the last resistance was eliminated.

"Is it just me, or was that too easy?" Wrex asked as he frowned, minor scorch marks on his armor where the geth had shot him and covered in gore from the husks he had crushed. "I mean, between myself and a Spectre this isn't much, but I expected the geth to put up a better fight."

"This may have been defended by lower grade units," Garrus offered. "Based on this and what I read on Eden Prime, geth infantry units seem to be in the cannon fodder role."

"Except for the Prime units," Nihlus added, "And they do have more advanced infantry variants as well. However, it is more likely to be related to their networking. As I remember, they only became smart when they networked together, so maybe dealing with them in small groups weakens their ability to operate." The Spectre gestured to the door as he pulled a small rectangular object from his belt.

"That would make sense," Garrus answered as he took a position next to the door, Wrex on the other side as Nihlus walked up to plant a breaching charge and took a position behind Wrex as it counted down to detonation.

The door vanished as the charge went off and Wrex stormed in first, shotgun blazing as Garrus and Nihlus followed him in, taking down the remaining trooper that Wrex had left intact and found that the inside of the building looked like some sort of field workshop for replacing parts of vehicles that had been destroyed.

"What is this?" Wrex asked with a growl, "This looks like it's for assembling something."

"But there's no input," Nihlus noted as he gestured to the mechanical arms on the ceiling, "no major source of materials…"

"What's that in the center?" Garrus asked as they walked into the center of the building and saw a pile of grey matter being fused together, before there was a growl and Garrus suddenly wanted to throw up. "Ugh, looks like I'm not sleeping tonight."

"That's messed up, even with stuff I've seen," Wrex rumbled as he stared at the sight in front of them.

The mass in the center were three husks being fused together and rising from the ground. It was a greyish creature with a pulsing blue sac on its shoulder, a husk's head bent to the side, and some greyish cannon pointing the same direction as the husk looked. Unlike other husks, only the eyes glowed while the rest of the body was the same dirty grey color as the rest. It screamed, looking at them, before its cannon fired and a biotic shockwave blew all three of them back out the door they came into.

Garrus lost his grip on his assault rifle and grabbed his sniper rifle instead, ignoring the burning sensation in the joints of his armor and taking cover behind the door and leaning out, aiming for the sac and squeezed the trigger. The round shot forward and penetrated the sac, spilling a bluish liquid from it as Wrex and Nihlus recovered, Nihlus taking a position opposite of Garrus and activating his omni-tool, shocking the cannon armed husk but to little effect.

Wrex charged forward, rushing the cannon husk with a biotic barrier protecting him and he crashed into it, knocking it backwards and the unevenly distributed weight caused the creature to fall. Wrex then aimed his shotgun at the head and shot it, but to Garrus' surprise the creature was still intact as both he and Nihlus moved forward to press the advantage on it as a blue biotic pulse surrounded it before explosively expanding in a sphere around it and causing Wrex to stagger backwards.

And that gave the two turians the opening they needed, a sniper round and a flurry of assault rifle fire spraying into the creature and taking it out, Garrus destroying the head while Nihlus proliferated the sac and caused it to spill all the strange liquid it had contained inside.

"What was that?" Garrus asked as he applied medi-gel to the burns he had received from the opening shockwave. "The reports about Eden Prime never mentioned those."

"I'm not sure," Nihlus answered as he scanned it with its omni-tool. "Okay, I've taken some scans, and hopefully we will be able to get some samples of these later. For now, however, we need to move on and take the artillery," he glanced around before nodding to himself. "Scratch that. Place a few demo charges on those supports, let's bring this base down so the geth can't just reuse it."

Four charges and an armed timer later, they hurried into the Mako and drove clear of the base, the building collapsing behind them as they left and drove off to their main objective.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been some time since Etel had driven a Conqueror Tank - the last time she had driven one was when she had gone home for a two week leave to visit her family back on Akko several months ago. But despite the time difference, she still felt as comfortable as one could be in a cramped, hot contraption of heavy armor, element zero generators, kinetic barrier projectors, and enough mass accelerator slugs to completely slag a castle from before the batarians sacked Jerusalem. As Etel edged the tank over the rubble of an obliterated building, the hovertank's engines giving them enough lift to clear it, she glanced back to her 'crew'.

"You comfortable with the main gun, Williams?" Etel asked as she glanced back.

"I'm good," she answered. "Autoloader looks intact though we'll have to manually refill the magazine: the loader between the microassembler and reserve is out. What kind of rounds does this fire anyways? Look rather big compared to the ones used in the Mako."

"Two hundred millimeter rounds," Etel supplied, "Bigger than what you use on the Mako, but then again the Mako's not a true tank."

"Yeah, we've got Spartan tanks for when it's time for a full on slugfest," Alenko commented as he checked the engines again.

It was silent for another few minutes as they drove through the city, collapsed and partially destroyed buildings all around them. It was clear just how brutal the fighting had been as they drove through. Sergeant Hawk's men moving through the buildings and sidewalks on the side of the street to give the tank room to move. They reached a fork in the road and Hawk directed them to the right fork, but there were no contacts.

"_This is creeping me out,"_ one of Hawk's men said on the squad radio.

"_You can say that again,"_ a female soldier answered. "_We should have seen something by now, instead of just nothing,"_ Etel looked down at the scanners at the comment, but there was nothing being picked up in range and the city made relying on it for more than thirty meters difficult. She glanced out the tank's viewport as the tank hovered over a collapsed stoplight.

"Husks!" Williams suddenly shouted as she turned the main gun around. "Hawk, you've got husks behind you - get down!"

"_What the - Men get down!"_ Hawk shouted as Williams fired the main gun, Etel watching through the display she had to see where the gunner was aiming and saw the husks coming out from the ruined buildings and out from the fork in the road they had not taken.

The middle of the husk group took the hit and were blown away, but several made it to Hawk's men and close quarters combat began. One of the husks in an environmental suit with a faceplate obscuring the face collapsing to a crouch before releasing an electric burst that took out two soldiers with shotguns who were trying to take it out, which Hawk accomplished from a longer distance after the electric field dissipated.

The rest of the husks were quickly dispatched, Williams firing the main gun at a few that had clustered together rushing through a shop. She blew out most of the small shop, but the husks were destroyed and the few left were easy for Hawk's men to mop up.

"_So those monstrosities are what you're calling husks?"_ Hawk asked.

"That's correct," Etel answered. "That's what these geth and the Collectors did to people on Eden Prime. We coined the term there as a quick designation. Haven't had a reason to change it."

"_Well, all the more reason to drive them off our planet. Pierre, see to the wounded."_

"Uh, Shepard, did you see those quarian husks? The ones with the electric bursts?" Alenko said worriedly. "That… that wasn't Tali, was it?"

Etel paused, staring in horror at the clearing smoke as she looked at the quarian husks sprawled in the mix. "God, let's hope not…" Please be alright, Tali… she thought worriedly as Hawk's men treated their wounded, regrouped and she drove the tank forward through the street.

The scanner display beeped as they approached an L turn in the road and Etel looked down as they began moving downhill "Hawk, contacts ahead. Looks like mostly infantry but there's some larger energy signatures as well."

"_Understood."_

"Should we hop out?" Jenkins asked, Lancer assault rifle in hand.

Etel paused, then nodded. "Do it," the top hatch opened and the two climbed out of the tank as she guided it down the hill, pulse fire spraying out from the buildings ahead as geth infantry engaged.

Jenkins opened fire from the top of the tank while she saw Alenko launching a tech attack at a geth with a rocket launcher, stopping it from firing as its shields were overloaded and Hawk gunned it down. Williams aimed the main gun at a pair of geth hiding behind a scratched up skycar and fired the main gun.

The skycar exploded as the mass accelerator round punched through and the two geth were obliterated while the other two geth nearby had their shields weakened from the shrapnel and were mowed down as Williams used the machine gun to finish them off.

"Good shooting!" Etel called as she leveled the tank off as they pushed to the bottom of the hill, Hawk's men moving alongside them.

"_WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" _Jenkins shouted as a large, bluish pulse splattered against the Conqueror's kinetic barriers and the system began beeping incessantly at Etel. She glanced down and saw the K-barrier was still being depleted and there was some bluish aura stuck on it… similar to biotics.

"Warp rounds?!" Etel shouted in surprise.

"It's not the ammo!" Alenko called as dropped down from the tank, "Some sort of new husk dead ahead!"

Etel paused and looked up, seeing the new husk and her stomach churned. It looked like someone had grafted a husk with a giant blue sac and a cannon. "Williams, new husks," Williams fired the freshly reloaded main gun, cutting the order off and Etel closed her mouth. She did not need to tell her counterpart what to do.

The shot struck one of the husks directly in the sac and burst it open, spraying it and the other one it was next to, with the bluish liquid that began to burn out the insides as they fired again. The kinetic barrier on the Conqueror was dropping rapidly. Gritting her teeth, Etel disabled the drivetrain and the tank dropped to the ground and she redirected the power, Williams grunting as the crew compartment shook from the sudden landing.

"_The tank's immobilizing, form a perimeter around it!" _Hawk ordered as he and Jenkins laid down suppressive fire at the geth infantry moving forward.

"_Watch out, large geth!"_ Alenko warned as a geth standing at about two meters came from behind a building and opened fire with a flamethrower, before it took a missile to the face. Or the singular eye that counted for a face for a geth infantry drone.

"_Good shot Hasna!_" Hawk called as the geth was staggered with its shields destroyed and the heavy platform was brought down as Alenko broke the fuel tank with a biotic attack, causing it to burn away and coat the nearby geth troopers with fuel. One of Hawk's men threw a grenade into the mix, detonating it.

Williams fired the main gun again as it finished reloading and hit the new cannon armed husks. The resulting impact destroyed the one she had not hit earlier before finishing off the first one with the machine gun.

"_Yeah, run you synthetic fuckers!"_ Jenkins shouted as the last few geth retreated into the buildings and fell back.

"Hawk, how bad are your men?" Etel asked as the soldiers began signaling that they were clear. The kinetic barrier was quickly recharging as the weird biotic burns left by the new husk's cannons faded away.

"_A few injuries and some burns, but we mostly came out of that one intact. Thanks for the heavy fire."_

"No problem," she answered. "Alenko, Jenkins, you might want to just stay out and help Hawk's men. Stick together."

"_Copy that,"_ Alenko answered and she saw him tending to a wounded soldier as Jenkins looked on.

"So, what was that with shutting off the hover system?" Williams asked as Shepard reactivated it and the tank slowly lifted back up.

"The power from the engines can be redirected to the kinetic barriers," Etel explained as she watched the systems returning to normal and the barrier recharged. "It has to drop to the ground, but it strengthens the shields."

"Not sure if the mobility loss is worth it," Williams answered as she turned and checked the on board ammunition microfabricator, moving several globs of omni-gel into it to replace the rounds she had fired.

"It's a debated tactic," Etel admitted as Hawk's men reported they were good to move on and she began to drive the tank forward again. "But in a pitched battle where you won't need the engines anyways, it's useful. Plus, cover for the guys on foot."

"True," the Alliance soldier admitted as she moved a fresh, albeit lower quality, slug for the main gun into the autoloader reserve. "Though, if we do that does the driver need to stay there?"

"If we end up doing that I'll handle the reloads so you can focus on shooting," Etel answered as the tank hovered over a fallen street light. The normal system that reloaded the main gun's reserve supply with the freshly made rounds was too sensitive a piece of equipment to repair in the field.

"Sounds good, though it'll be a while until we run that low," Williams answered as the tank scaled over a building that had completely fallen apart down to the foundations that they were moving through as a shortcut Etel paused as she looked down at the scanner.

"Sergeant, there's contacts on the other…"

Suddenly, as they approached a T-intersection the apartment building that was directly across from the street they were moving down exploded, rubble from the outer parts of the building flying towards them while the inside collapsed upon itself. "Cover!" both Hawk and Alenko shouted at the same time, the Alliance biotic grabbing a larger piece about to crush one of Hawk's men and flinging it away.

"Collectors coming from the ruins!" Williams warned as she fired the main gun towards where the explosion had come from. Etel looked down through the viewport and nodded as the shell hit and completely destroyed the Collector.

"Looks like a full squad and I think they're moving more of those cannon husks into position! Hawk, bring up your anti-tank weapons!"

"_Yes, mi'lady!"_ Hawk answered, firing a burst from his Avenger assault rifle before issuing his own orders._ "Hasna, get that missile launcher up here and aim for those big ones with the cannons!"_

"Jenkins," Williams added, "make sure she's covered."

"_Yes ma'am!"_ Jenkins answered as he moved to cover the soldier running forward with a missile launcher in hand, laying down a suppressive burst from his Lancer and catching one of the Collectors in the head.

Etel guided the tank to the side, trying to dodge the two cannon husks' volley but the kinetic barriers took the full hit as the tank was too slow and without enough room to maneuver. Dodging here was going to be an exercise in futility unlike the open field where cavalry always excelled.

_Glad we took the heavy vehicle,_ she thought as she wondered if the Mako would have been durable enough to take the fire they were receiving. The shields were dropping dangerously low from the repeated fire they were taking.

"_Man down!"_ Alenko shouted as Williams fired the main gun again at one of the cannon husks, blowing away the armor of its front side before filling the exposed flesh and cybernetics beneath with the machine gun, _"I've got him, cover me!"_

"_I've got your back!"_ another of Hawk's men shouted as he moved to cover Alenko as he was tending to the wounded soldier.

A missile launched from another one of Hawk's soldiers hit the other cannon husk, breaking the cannon and causing it to stagger back before it collapsed. Hawk ducked back into cover as his kinetic barrier was worn down.

"_Hang on,"_ Jenkins said as he ceased fire to let his rifle cool down, _"They're running away!" _Williams fired the main gun as the Collectors unfurled their wings and rushed away, narrowly escaping the shell's impact.

"They must realize they can't penetrate the armor," Etel supplied as Williams mowed down two more with the machine gun. She stopped firing as the gun was beginning to overheat and they vanished into the smoking ruins. "Hawk, how many?"

"_Losses? Give me a moment,"_ he conferred with his squad, checking in with them before answering. _"About six more wounded, and for two of them medi-gel won't get them fighting," _artillery was visible a block away falling onto a position ahead of them. "_Good news is, they blew us a path straight towards the town square."_

"Good," Etel said, "We're moving forward; can you have the wounded stay back until we can get them to a triage station?"

"_Yes we can. Pierre, get up here!"_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"There's the artillery position," Garrus said, staring down the scope of his sniper rifle as they had moved through the outskirts of a small forest to observe their target. "Looks well defended."

"Agreed," Nihlus answered as he lowered the binoculars and put them back on his belt. The base ahead was larger than the outpost they had taken out, but it was still quite obviously a field job. It had a larger command center, prefabricated and likely air dropped, but it also sported six perimeter turrets with geth units on top of them and armed with heavier cannons than the simple hand held rocket launchers they had engaged earlier. Four artillery guns were firing towards the city, arcing shots from what looked to be fixed cannons. An anti-aircraft tower was also in the center of the encampment. Geth infantry patrolled it, as well as having a Prime unit present and overseeing it.

It also had several Collectors guarding the command post itself, and that intrigued Nihlus far more than the geth guns. The Collectors, like the geth, were enigmatic, but the geth could at least be counted on to have a logical pattern of action. The Collectors were an unknown. "I count one Geth Prime, about a dozen smaller geth trooper drones, and a few midway sized ones. I think two of them are Destroyers, though I can't tell if they have flamethrowers. The artillery pieces seem to be automated, likely actually geth drones rather than manned guns."

"I can handle the Destroyers," Wrex commented, "but running headlong into this is a tall order."

"Yes, especially that Prime unit," Garrus added. "From what Jenkins told me, those things can tank a lot of firepower."

"I agree," Nihlus answered. "That's why we need the Mako for that, but we can't approach it until we whittle down those turrets."

"What's the plan then?"

"Wrex," Nihlus asked, "You think you can fit in the Mako's gunner seat?"

"It may be a bit cramped, but I should be able to," the krogan answered.

"We'll try it. If that doesn't work we'll have to drop the sniper support," Nihlus answered, looking at Garrus to pause before nodding.

"I can cover you if I move a little closer to get into sniper range," the younger turian answered with a nod. "Let me guess: you're going to take the Mako around on a rampage around their perimeter to pick off as much as possible while I snipe, then we withdraw once they're whittled down?"

"Exactly," Nihlus answered. "We can't take them in a head on assault, but we can whittle them down a bit before we do the full strike."

"Works for me," Wrex answered with a shrug as they walked back into the Mako. Nihlus settled into the driver's seat while Wrex was squeezing himself into the turret.

"A bit tight," the krogan grumbled in dull annoyance, "but it'll do."

"Good," Nihlus answered as he saw Garrus taking up his sniper position nearby and signaled he was ready. "Garrus, wait us to get their attention before sniping."

"_Understood."_

Nihlus pushed the stick forward and the Mako rolled out down the hill towards the geth position. The heavy turrets began to fire as they approached and Nihlus sent the Mako into a sharp turn to avoid the initial barrage as Wrex fired the main gun at the turret, hitting its kinetic barrier and dropping it in a direct hit. A burst of machine gun fire and a second blast from the cannon destroyed it entirely.

The kinetic barrier began to weaken as the geth on the other turrets compensated for the sudden movement and infantry with their pulse rifles began firing at the Mako, but Garrus began to pick off the infantry, taking out a geth sniper before the machine could respond to the other turian. Hitting the thrusters, the Mako leapt over a barrage. Wrex fired the main gun again and began to fire the machine gun in short, controlled bursts at the geth infantry as they continued to circle around the compound as the artillery thundered again.

"Keep alert," Wrex warned as he took out the shielding on another turret with the Mako's cannon, "they're getting ready to lower the gate!"

"Copy!" Nihlus answered as he swerved the Mako to the side and a flurry of fire from the two turrets they were in line of sight of went slightly wide, a few shots impacting the kinetic barrier and dropping it to about half strength while the rest missed.

"_Watch out!_" Garrus shouted, _"Geth Prime coming out of the gate!"_

Nihlus ignited the thrusters again as a single large pulse shot at where the Mako was and the Geth Prime was coming out of the gate. "Okay, plan update!" Nihlus said, "We're going to head around the complex and lose the Prime. Garrus, focus on staying alive until we loop back around," Wrex fired the main gun at the Prime, damaging its kinetic barrier, "maybe drop the K-Barriers on the turrets before we come back."

"_Understood, I'll try to thin out the infantry from here," _Garrus answered as his sniper rifle fired off again and took out a geth rocket trooper trying to get a lock.

Nihlus drove the Mako around the complex, losing the geth infantry platforms and isolating the turrets they were facing, which turned towards them and opened fire as the Mako entered their fields of fire. The kinetic barrier quickly dropped despite Nihlus' maneuvering with the Mako and Wrex plugging away with the main gun. They managed to strip all three of the far side turrets before the geth could move more infantry to their side and they drove back around.

As they came around Nihlus swore as the Mako slammed headlong into a heavy pulse round from the Prime unit, and with the kinetic barrier down the Mako rattled at the hit. Nihlus growled as he hit the thrusters, leaping over the burst of fire from the turrets. Garrus dropped one of the turret's kinetic barriers with his sniper rifle, then Wrex blasted it with the main gun, wrecking the emplacement and leaving one left which began to batter the Mako's hull.

"One more turret!" Wrex called as he moved the main gun. "This hunk of junk going to hold?"

"It'll hold!" Nihlus answered as he turned the Mako sharply so that its wheels were lifting, underside facing away from the base, and Nihlus hit the thrusters to launch it to the side. While the Mako reoriented itself in the air with its mass effect core. The maneuver, while dangerous, caused the Prime's next blast to go wide and the last turret to miss its barrage.

"_Dropped the shields!"_ Garrus called as the Mako drove forward and Wrex turned the turret around and fired, hitting the last of the base's perimeter turrets as the artillery cannons continued to fire their ordnance towards the city.

"Good!" Nihlus answered as he turned the Mako around and began driving it away, "Now let's lose them! Garrus you may need a hot pickup!"

"_Don't worry about me, just get clear!"_ he answered as the sniper fire stopped. Nihlus turned to avoid a rocket, but ended up knocking the Mako into a pulse blast from the Prime. Nihlus grunted as he hit his head on the side from the blast's shock on the vehicle as alarms were beeping at him incessantly. Wrex fired at the oversized synthetic, staggering the Prime briefly as its shields absorbed the direct hit. The Mako drove off before the geth could send out pursuit. A few reconnaissance drones tailed them, but Wrex wasted them quickly with the Mako's machine gun.

"How bad is it?" Wrex asked.

"Bad," Nihlus answered, "but we can patch it up with omni-gel, long enough to hold for repairs once we get this back on the _Normandy._ As soon as we park this and meet with Garrus, you'll be on watch while we fix it up for the next phase."

"Sure thing," the krogan rumbled as he edged his large body out of the gunnery controls. "Man that's cramped. Next time our ex-C-Sec turian can man the gun."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Etel grit her teeth as she moved the tank forward. Hawk's men checked the Imperial casualties as they were approaching the city center. The losses were fresh, according to Alenko's commentary, but the battle had moved quickly and they did not find anyone alive.

_Please be because the wounded were evacuated_, she prayed as the tank hovered around a destroyed APC with several dead soldiers sprawled around it, the front of the transport missing from an artillery hit.

"Urban combat always sucks," Williams commented as an artillery strike landed up ahead and the comms were alight with warnings and reports that a Conqueror had been disabled from the hit. "It eventually gets to a point where it's less about skill and more just pulling the trigger."

"I know," Etel answered as she shook her head as they passed by debris, including broken weapons and a rather large heat sink. "But if we can stop it from getting that far-"

"_Sergeant!"_ one of Hawk's soldiers called. _"I found a comm set - looks to be intact!"_

"_Good find, Gerald!"_ Hawk answered, _"Get that gear on and get us into the Command and Control functions."_

Etel paused as she heard the specific need. "Sergeant?"

"_Yes mi'lady?_" Hawk answered, pausing near the tank even though he could not see her through its hull.

"Why didn't you mention you didn't have your comm officer?"

"_Never technically had one,"_ he answered, _"and our platoon's CO suffered a case of acute lead poisoning; we've been on our own ever since."_

"_You did pretty well, though,_" Alenko chimed in. _"Taking the initiative isn't easy, but wouldn't this be something worth mentioning?"_

"_Real-Time C&C isn't about main orders, it's about allowing our superiors to give more detailed orders that can't be done verbally and supplying them with more precise data."_

"_Huh,"_ Jenkins commented as he was climbing over a wrecked skycar and scoping out the downward slope with his sniper rifle, _"shouldn't hardsuits be able to handle all that?"_

Etel glanced down at the scanner and interrupted the conversation. "Look alive, I've got contacts just up ahead near that wrecked restaurant."

"_I see - hold your fire!" _Hawk ordered as he raised a hand to the contacts. Williams moved the main gun, but did not directly aim it at the restaurant as several more soldiers in what seemed to be in house colors stepped out.

"_By God are we glad to see you!"_ the squad's leader said as she stepped out, wearing lighter armor then the soldiers in Hawk's squad, _"Corporal Ilana Deveraux, reporting for duty."_

"Corporal Deveraux," Etel cut in, "this is Sir Shepard, Knights Hospitaller. What do you have with you?"

"_A half dozen men, minor injuries but nothing that'll impair us. I am a biotic, but otherwise we're just rifles. We're trying to get to the city center without being pummeled by artillery."_

Etel nodded. "Understood. Alenko, can you work with Deveraux and provide us with biotic support? Jenkins, you're on keeping them covered from people targeting them."

"_Got it,"_ Alenko answered as he and Jenkins began walking towards the new addition to their group, _"though I'll be ready to help with the medicine as well."_

"What's her specialty?" Williams asked. "Might be good to know."

Etel glanced through the viewscreen and nodded as she saw the small patch on her armor. "Black Monk graduate, I think. Closest comparison would be the Alliance's Adept program."

"Handy," Williams commented as the two Alliance soldiers on foot met their new teammate.

"_Er, Sir Knight,"_ Deveraux asked, _"what's with the Alliance soldiers?"_

"Long story," Etel answered as she shook her head. She did not want to have to explain this ten times over. "But to make it short they're with us and their ship's getting us reinforcements."

"_Understood, mi'lady. Just tell us where you want us."_

"Form up with us, we're heading to the city center," An artillery strike crashed down ahead of them, blasting the road ahead and causing the infantry to scatter into cover quickly, but no follow-up attack came. They continued to move forward, approaching the city center from the southern side. "Sergeant, I think we're here."

"_That we are," _he answered. "_Okay men, this is it! GO GO GO!"_

They moved forward, through the street and into the city center. The center of the city, an example of the Roman style of foresight in planning out new cities that the Empire learned from, was large and spacious to provide the necessary forum for large public events and for handling the flow of commerce through the city. The center was a large park in front of the city hall, and wide streets went around it.

Of course, the park and buildings had been heavily damaged. The city hall and some buildings on the western side had rifle fire spewing out from the windows and from the roofs where Imperial soldiers had bunkered down for firing lines. Meanwhile, the eastern side was swarming with geth. The parks and roadways had large craters blasted into it from both the artillery and the heavier weapons both sides were using. Multiple wrecked tanks and geth armatures littered the streets, as did dozens of corpses and destroyed geth platforms.

Etel drove the Conqueror forward and Williams moved the main gun around. "Targeting the nearest Armature!" Williams called as she fired the main gun and hit it on the side, distracting it from the tank it was dueling with. The large walker turned before receiving another shell from the immobilized tank it was fighting with, causing it to stagger briefly.

"_Hasna, waste that Armature!"_ Hawk called and a missile shot out and hit it directly in the firing chamber in the quadrupedal walker's head and it collapsed forward.

"_Score one for the Empire!"_ Hasna shouted as she reloaded her missile launcher.

"Good hit," Etel said as she glanced down. The fight was locked in and the two sides had reached a state of stalemate, but the PDF forces were clearly on the edge as the artillery continued to rain down from outside the city.

And as if to stop the reinforcements from trying to turn the tide, Collector infantry were moving towards them to try and cut them off. "Alenko, Deveraux, Collector infantry incoming, scatter them!"

Williams fired the main gun again, hitting one of the cannon husks that was pinning down a squad before opening fire at the incoming Collectors with the tank's machine gun. Etel moved the tank towards a burnt out APC.

"_Coll- what?"_ Deveraux answered.

"_The bug aliens are Collectors!" _Alenko supplied. "_And watch it- I think they have the biotics we saw on Eden Prime!"_

Deveraux focused and a small orb of biotic energy materialized in the front ranks of the Collectors, catching a few of them in it and began eating away at their own personal shielding - their biotic barriers being drained by the gravitational pull of the biotic singularity. Hawk's men took advantage of that, pouring on the fire and taking out two of the Collectors quickly before they knew what was going on. Etel grunted as the tank shook from a direct hit from an Armature that dropped the tank's K-Barrier dangerously low.

"I'm entrenching the tank, Williams, get ready!" she warned as the tank stopped behind the burnt out APC. _Here's hoping it'll give us some cover_, she thought as she adjusted the power levels, redirecting the energy from the engines to the shields. Williams grunted as the tank landed, but continued firing, suppressing the Collector squad with the machine gun as Hawk's men moved forward and took cover behind the various wrecked civilian vehicles and craters as another artillery strike hit the city hall.

"_City hall is taking a beating!"_ a voice Etel did not recognize said on the general Imperial channel.

"_It'll hold!"_ another soldier answered, quarian based on the filter, _"It was built with orbital strikes in mind! Keep firing through the windows!"_

"Hey Shepard, even if we hold the line here until Nihlus takes out the artillery we won't do much," Williams said as she fired the main gun and blew a Collector using biotics to lift Hawk's missile trooper into the air to atoms, allowing Alenko and Deveraux to get her down and the former to tend to the rounds she took to the stomach.

"I know, but if anyone can do it they can!" Etel answered as a large geth pulse exploded above them and showered the tank with rubble. Jenkins cheered loudly as he took out a Collector with a headshot from his sniper rifle, removing a significant part of the bug-like alien's oversized head.

Another of Hawk's soldiers was wounded, but Alenko was on it quickly and Deveraux biotically lifted a broken off axle and tires from a nearby overturned truck. A short amount of strain later, and she was flinging it at the Collectors. Two that had been firing at Jenkins and forced him to take cover again as his kinetic barrier dropped were crushed under the axle as it clotheslined both of them.

"That squad's pulling back!" Williams warned as she mowed down another one with the machine gun before firing the main gun at another of the cannon husks moving forward, staggering it before it could finish off the other immobilized Conqueror which had _Big Bertha_ printed on the side of its main gun.

"_Thank you for the save!"_ the commander of the other tank answered as it finished off the cannon husk, blowing its upper body away and leaving the legs to collapse.

"No problem!" Etel answered.

"_Ma'am, we're going to move further into the park!"_ Hawk cut in, _"Could you cover us while we get to Big Bertha?"_

"Can do," she answered as she reactivated the engines so they could move forward. "Other tank, you able to move?"

"_Will do as soon as our shields recharge… scratch that, another walker moving forward and it's on us!"_

"I see it!" Williams answered as she aimed the main gun and fired at the next Armature coming out from behind a wrecked building that had collapsed in on itself and into the fray. The mass accelerator round hit it directly, but it returned fire at the damaged Conqueror, wrecking its main gun.

"_Fuck!"_ the other tank's commander shouted, _"Main gun's out and the systems are fried! Essex, Richard, we're abandoning the tank!"_

"_Those bastards took out Big Bertha!"_ Hawk shouted, _"Hey, Abdul, you okay?"_

"_I'm fine!"_ the tank commander answered as Williams hit the Armature again and two missiles from the city hall shot out, nailing the Armature directly as it fired at Hawk's men, _"Just give us some cover so we can fall back into the park!"_

"_Man down!"_ Alenko shouted as the Armature's pulse impacted just over Hawk's men and one of Deveraux's squad, blowing them into the air before they landed on their heads on the way down. Alenko checked them as Williams laid down suppressing fire with the tank's machine gun and Jenkins picked off a geth drone poking its way out of the rubble with his rifle.

"_Watch out, the geth are bringing in those recon drones!"_ Jenkins warned.

"_Rocket drones!"_ Deveraux warned as she lifted a fallen tree off of a wounded soldier with biotics and one of Hawk's medics pulled her out from under the tree and carried her further into the park as a pair of tanks rolled forward.

"_Bloodhound, this is Dragon Fire, what happened to you?"_

"Bloodhound?" Williams asked as she fired the main gun again, missing but forcing several Collectors below the sniper she was targeting to take cover.

"Probably the tank we picked up," Etel answered as Williams switched to the machine gun and tried to drive off the geth drones attacking with small rockets. "Dragon Fire, this is Sir Shepard, Knights Hospitaller. Bloodhound's crew was killed by enemy fire while repairing it."

"_Damn it. Okay, we're going to form a breaker right in the center and hold the line - they're bringing up a bunch of those weird man cannon things."_

"Copy that Dragon Fire," Etel answered as she continued maneuvering the tank towards them as the tanks began to blast away at the enemy with their main guns. "Who's forming the point?"

"_That'll be me,"_ another tanker answered as a rocket impacted off of their kinetic barrier and Williams swore under her breath, _"You'll be on my right."_

"Understood. Hawk, are you moving?"

"_We're in the center of the park now!_" Hawk answered before firing his assault rifle. _"My team's going to do some digging; Jenkins is helping with covering fire while the biotics are moving some larger debris around."_

"_Glad to help!"_ Jenkins answered before pausing, _"Uh, what the hell is that? Back there towards city hall? Did the geth hang that guy?"_

Etel paused, glancing out of a viewport towards where Jenkins was talking about and felt her stomach churn as she realized what happened. "We need to make sure we come back here later."

"Huh?" Williams answered as she reloaded the main gun and fired again, hitting a Collector that had raised a biotic barrier bubble to try and shield several Collectors moving closer, breaking the barrier and leaving an opening for some of the PDF's snipers to finish it off.

"_Yeah!"_ a presumably quarian soldier shouted based on the filter in his voice, _"Scratch one bug biotic!"_

"I'll explain later," Etel answered, "just focus on suppressing targets… watch out! Geth Destroyers incoming with shock troopers! Hawk, they're rushing your position!"

"_We see them!"_ Hawk answered, _"Drop the sandbags and lay down suppressing fire! Gun down the ones moving close first!"_

"_Artillery strike incoming! Going right for the park!"_ a sensor officer Etel did not recognize warned over the comms, _"Tanks, move it!"_

"_Copy that,"_ Dragon Fire's commander answered. "_Bloodhound, we're moving forward to try and avoid that arty!"_

"_Thanks for the warning, Gerald!"_ Hawk shouted as they all moved out of the way for the incoming artillery strike. The three tanks aimed at the geth storming their position, Williams detonating a Destroyer with a direct hit to it that ruptured the fuel tanks on its flamethrower and caused it to explode into a fireball that knocked the nearby Shock Troopers to the ground. The other two tanks likewise scattering the geth charge as large blue artillery rounds sailed in from above and hit where they had been.

Jenkins screamed and Etel saw him flying into a tree. _"I'll cover you, Alliance medic," _one of Hawk's soldiers said, _"get to your soldier, move!"_

"_I'm on my way!"_ Alenko answered as he hurried towards where Jenkins was.

"Watch it Kaidan!" Williams shouted as red targeting lasers came out from a building ahead of them, "Geth snipers aiming at you!"

"_I see the snipers!"_ Dragon Fire's commander answered. _"Gunner, hit forty-ninth East Main, third floor! FIRE!"_

Etel watched the shell sail into a window on the display and nodded as she saw two geth snipers falling out of the windows as a shock wave burst out from the upper floor of the building from the impact. "Good hit, Dragon Fire," Williams fired the main gun again at a pair of Shock Troopers that had gotten through and were suppressing several of Hawk's men, blasting them away.

"How's Jenkins?" Williams asked as the main gun reloaded.

"_He'll be fine,"_ Alenko answered, _"Some medi-gel and painkillers and he'll be good - he got damn lucky with that, any closer and he'd of been creamed."_

"Let's take what we can then," Etel said as she moved the tank to the side as more cannon husks were marching into the fray. "Okay, we've got those cannon husks dead ahead! Blast them before they blast us!"

"_Artillery strike incoming!"_ Gerald warned, _"Going for the city hall!"_

"_We can't keep this up forever!"_ Deveraux shouted as she lifted a Destroyer with biotics, stopping its charge and exposing it to allow the others in her fire team to destroy it. _"We need that artillery silenced!"_

"Nihlus will have that artillery down," Etel answered, "Just give the Spectre more time!"

"_Fall back to the city hall! Big wave incoming and there's too much artillery!"_ an officer shouted. _"All units in the city center, fall back to City Hall!"_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The approach was not as easy as Nihlus would have liked, but the geth were not stupid. They would be on alert for another attack after repelling the initial wave. And unlike turian soldiers who could get tired over long periods on watch, the geth would never waver in constant vigilance.

Of course, not having perimeter turrets anymore made the approach easier than it would have been otherwise as they began to take fire. Garrus fired the main gun at a geth sniper that had taken up a position where a turret had been, destroying it and keeping it from dropping the Mako's shields further as Nihlus drove it right to the edge of the wall and activated the vertical thrusters, launching them over the wall and onto the roof of the prefabricated command building. "Okay, we're here!" Nihlus said. "Wrex, do your thing! Vakarian, man the gun until the geth start rushing us!"

He received a pair of acknowledgements as Garrus fired the main gun again and began suppressing other geth in range with the machine gun. Nihlus unbuckled his restraints and grabbed his assault rifle while Wrex kicked the back door open and hurried out, switching to his shotgun as he pulled a geth drone that had floated up to engage them with his biotics before smashing it with his faceplate, the drone shattering as it hit the ground.

"There's an access ladder that they might try to rush up, I'll keep them down!" Wrex explained as he rushed towards it as a geth shock trooper climbed up. Nihlus followed the krogan over and dropped to a prone position on top, firing down at the geth in the yard below as the Mako's gun stopped firing. The krogan shrugged off a shotgun blast from the shock trooper as it did a one-handed shot while still on the ladder, before smashing it with his boot and firing a shotgun blast to the head, eviscerating the geth platform's head and sending it plummeting below.

A heavy pulse burst shot up and hit Wrex, knocking him back and breaking his kinetic barrier as the base's Prime unit began moving towards them. The other geth troops began moving in unison, some platforms laying down suppressing bursts while others either deployed hex energy shields for cover as the geth artillery continued to fire towards the city. Despite the hearing protection all three of them had, each barrage was loud enough to briefly deafen them.

"Those shock troopers are deploying energy shields!" Nihlus warned as he managed to get a good look at one of the geth deploying a shield as Garrus came down next to him. "Try to take them out fast!"

"Got it!" the younger turian answered as he aimed his sniper rifle and picked off one of the shock troopers moving forward before ducking as a barrage of pulse rounds shot back. "Damn it, these geth weapons are eating up my shields!" Another pulse from the Prime sailed over them as Wrex moved to the side before he was hit again, a biotic barrier shimmering around him as he switched back to his assault rifle and began suppressing the smaller geth firing at them.

Nihlus activated his omni-tool and held it over, aiming it at one of the hex barriers and causing it to sputter out and vanish. Garrus took advantage off the suddenly lost cover, picking off the geth shock trooper that had been using it for cover. Nihlus then rose just enough to aim and began firing at two geth troopers sharing a barrier, bringing down the barrier with rapid fire before destroying both troopers. He ducked back into cover as a pulse blast from the Prime was sent his way and exploded against the prefab building's roof, damaging their kinetic barriers and knocking both turians backwards.

"Okay, we have to deal with that Prime now," Garrus grumbled as he picked himself up.

"Agreed," Nihlus answered as soon as the artillery finished firing its next salvo. "Wrex, how many are left?"

"Just a few more of those shock ones!" Wrex answered as he took out a geth moving forward and firing at him, taking a few hits himself but nothing that penetrated his armor or bothered him as he moved back.

"Good," Nihlus answered as he made sure his rifle had cooled down. "Take them down, then the two of us are dropping down to hit the Prime!"

Back at the forefront, they quickly gunned down the last few infantry supporting the Prime and Nihlus dropped down, using his jet boots to slow his descent while Garrus took up a sniper position and began to pelt the Prime with sniper fire. The Prime was focusing on Wrex, who slid down the ladder quickly. The ladder was slagged by a shot that went just over Wrex's head, knocking him the rest of the way down and destroying the ladder, and the krogan landed on his back.

"I'm okay!" Wrex shouted as he pushed himself up and created a biotic barrier to shield himself as the Prime hammered him again with another pulse blast, knocking him into the wall. Nihlus had moved to the side and attempted to overload the large mech's shields again, weakening them as Garrus continued to hit it from his vantage point. Nihlus moved to the side before the Prime focused on him, launching his own tech attacks while his rifle cooled down.

There was a pulse around the oversized geth platform as its shields flashed one more time and faded. "Its shields are down!" Nihlus shouted as Wrex growled savagely. The turian Spectre turned to see their krogan squadmate staring at the Prime as much as the krogan's wide field of vision permitted.

"Krogan charging!" Garrus warned as Nihlus moved to the side with his jet boots. Wrex was glowing with a biotic aura as he rushed the geth with his shotgun in hand, crashing headlong into it and staggering it backwards before he blasted it with a shotgun blast .His hand glowed blue before he smacked the platform again, causing its armor to visibly deform and Wrex moved to the side.

"Have at it!" the ancient battlemaster snarled as his shotgun was venting heat, still in control despite the rage slurring his words together as the artillery guns thundered again. The two turians opened fire and hammered the Prime, assault and sniper rifle fire pounding its chest as the platform tried to recover and it found itself on the defensive.

"It's going, wait, I hear buzzing!" Garrus shouted as he stopped firing and turned. "Crap, those Collectors snuck around! I'll deal with them!"

"Do you need help?" Nihlus asked as he used his jet boots to leap clear of a pulse blast the Prime sent his way as Wrex head-butted it in the flank.

"I've got it!" Garrus shouted, "Get the Prime!"

Nihlus nodded to himself as he grabbed his shotgun and leapt towards the Prime with his jet boots, blasting it directly where Wrex had warped it before moving to the side. The Prime swung its heavy cannon to try and smash him in melee, but missed. The krogan head-butted it again, knocking it forward and Nihlus dropped his left hand from his shotgun, activating his omni-blade and stabbing the meter and a half tall geth in the torso where its armor had been biotically warped. The blade penetrated the weakened armor and cut cleanly before he pulled back as the Prime turned towards Wrex, who punched it there biotically and broke it.

The Prime snarled again before managing to hit Wrex, knocking the krogan backwards and into Nihlus as he was coming around to try and get a shot off at the opened joint as off white bullets shot out from the prefab's roof. The two landed a meter away from the Prime and pushed themselves up as the large geth platform brought its cannon back around. "Wrex, warp a spot in the armor and I'll weaken it, then smash it!" Nihlus shouted as he used his jet boots to slide backwards along the ground clear of the attack while the krogan threw himself to the side. The krogan looked at him, then nodded, launching another biotic warp towards the Prime and catching its left arm.

The Prime snarled at the krogan and turned to attack, Nihlus leaping forward as Wrex ran to the side to draw its fire, biotic barrier raised to protect him from a grazing hit from the pulse cannon. Nihlus activated his omni-blade again and stabbed the shot before pulling the overloaded and disposable blade clear and hitting the Prime with a shotgun blast, getting it to follow him before using his jet boots to clear out away from it as Wrex charged the geth again and smashed into it, staggering it before blowing a large hole into its arm with his shotgun. Nihlus' omni-tool chirped a warning but he put it to the side - Garrus could take care of himself.

"Hah! That's it?!" Wrex shouted as he grabbed the Prime's hand and ripped the left arm off, the weakened armor and joints cracking and with a sharp tug the entire hand came off. The Prime staggered forward, chittering towards the battlemaster in the clicky language the geth spoke before smacking the krogan in the face with the stump of its broken left arm. Nihlus leapt in again, reaching for the pulse cannon and impaling it with his omni-blade, catching it in the barrel as the prime noticed him and threw him off to the side with its right arm as another gun began to sound off on the prefab's roof.

But even the mechanical strength of machines does not always compensate for one-handed usage of a weapon heavy even by krogan standards, and the inertia of the pulse cannon caused the Prime to stagger in the direction that Nihlus was thrown. Wrex capitalized on this, charging into the geth with his full weight and using his biotics to increase his mass as he leapt at the meter and a half tall geth. The Prime collapsed under the weight, landing on the side and its pulse cannon was pointed towards Nihlus.

"Wrex, back off!" Nihlus warned as he saw the cannon warming up for one more pulse, the Spectre activating his jet boots to launch himself backwards and to the side. The krogan looked down and pushed himself off the geth, continuing his charge at an angle as the geth activated the weapon…

… And the pulse cannon exploded, though the noise was muffled by another salvo from the artillery. With its barrel severed and, Nihlus presumed, its power supply compromised, the weapon detonated on itself during the firing sequence. The resulting explosion was small, no larger than the average grenade, but going off in the Geth Prime's hand was all that it took to ruin the platform's remaining arm. Nihlus and Wrex both marched back to it, shotguns in hand, and both fired a shot into the chest of the mechanical monstrosity, finishing it off for good as an engine rumbled.

The two looked up and saw the Mako driving off the roof and landing roughly before parking in front of them. A moment later, the rear hatch opened and Garrus walked out, covered in strange blood. Collector blood.

"I took 'em out, half dozen. Used the Mako's machine gun, though I had to fight a pair up close and personal when I was trying to get into it," he pointed to a leg wound as well as a few slash marks on his arms and Nihlus nodded to himself. That was what his omni-tool was warning him off - Garrus' injuries being inflicted.

"You applied medi-gel?"

"Of course," the ex C-Sec officer answered. "I did it as soon as I mowed down the last of the ones attacking. I'll be fine, I probably won't need a doctor unless I try to run the Valluvian Marathon."

Nihlus' mandibles twitched briefly in amusement. "If you can run fifty-six kilometers straight with that kind of leg wound I'd eat my shotgun."

"Hah!" Wrex chuckled, "I'd like to see that happen! Make sure to remove the trigger mechanism first. I'm not cleaning up the mess."

"Either of you need medi-gel?" Garrus asked, "Particularly you Wrex, you're bleeding."

"Oh, this?" the krogan asked, glancing down at his arms and shrugging at the blood. "Already stopped bleeding; all scratches. Probably be fully healed in a minute, maybe two."

Garrus paused, mandibles hanging wide with a mouth dropped open before he closed his mouth and shook his head. "Right. Krogans regen even in combat."

"Part of our sunny disposition," the krogan continued on with a mock cheer and a grin. "We also have a redundant everything, unlike all you wimps who can't stand having extra livers, hearts, ribs, even a double set of g…"

"Let's not go there," Nihlus said simply. "We still have a job to do," the krogan simply shrugged as they moved towards the door to the prefabricated building. Taking up storming positions, Nihlus overrode the door's controls and it opened. As soon as it opened Collectors opened fire on them. The three paused, Garrus switching to his assault rifle while Nihlus glanced inside and nodded.

"Four hostiles suppressing us; two on each side," Nihlus explained. "Corridor is wide. Wrex, charge to the right and we can hammer the left."

The krogan nodded and stepped out before focusing briefly and charging inside. As he did, Garrus leaned around the wall and fired at the two Collectors on the left. As soon as Wrex was clear Nihlus did the same, Garrus catching one and dropping its barriers while Nihlus finished it off, the other Collector managing to take cover in time. Wrex meanwhile lost his kinetic barrier, but replaced it with a biotic version, closing in on the Collectors he was rushing and attacking in close quarters. A shotgun blast was followed by loud thuds as the two turians moved forward and shot the last Collector as it rose to try and shoot Wrex's back.

As they came up, Wrex's gauntlets and armor was dripping with Collector blood as one was sprawled against the wall with a smoking hole where its neck had been, no head in sight. The other had both of its arms broken off and was crumpled along the floor. The krogan was checking a chest wound that was already clearly regenerating shrugged to himself as he finished. "Done."

Nihlus nodded as the artillery thundered again. "Good work. I'm going to clear the rest of the building and root around for useful information. You two wire the place to blow with the demo charges we brought."

"Yes sir," Garrus answered before heading outside again. Nihlus moved his way through the building, clearing room after room but found very little. In true geth style, the prefabricated structure was wholly utilitarian. No decorations, no mementos. Only a few minor consoles, power plugs, and a few crates of standard munitions. Nihlus frowned as he saw one crate that had been opened and unusual cylinders inside, one loose lying at the top of the pile. He pulled the cylinder out, looking at it curiously as he scanned it.

"Heat absorption?" he asked to himself in surprise as his omni-tool reported what it picked up. He grabbed several samples and pocketed them. _These may come in handy later_, he thought as he moved on into the last room, taking up a position at the door and checking his corners as he advanced, but found no hostiles as the door closed behind him. They had taken out the entire garrison.

A console beeped to life and Nihlus turned around, looking it over and aiming his shotgun at it instinctively before he realized it was not a countdown. A few seconds later, Saren's face appeared into the space above it as a hologram. He was not looking at the Nihlus, rather, it seemed he was reading something outside the hologram's view, likely from his end.

"_What is taking you so long? I would have thought that the geth could crack a local planetary def-" _he said, before raising his gaze and his eyes widened in shock. _"Nihlus?"_

"In person," Nihlus answered, keeping his voice and face steady as he lowered his gun. "What are you doing, Saren?"

"_What I must,"_ Saren explained slowly. _"I take no pride from this, but I am simply doing what I must."_

"Allying with the geth, destroying human colonies?" Nihlus asked, taking a step towards the hologram. "What could possibly be so dangerous to call for such extreme actions? I know you have a low opinion of humans, but murder on this scale? Attacking loyal members of the Citadel Alliance and butchering their people?"

"_Nihlus, I do not expect you to understand. There are things far beyond their petty squabbles at stake here,"_ Saren explained, before pausing for a moment. _"Try to stay alive, Nihlus," _Saren said finally before the connection was cut from his end.

Nihlus was left alone staring at the empty space, processing the information he had just gained in shock. Eventually, he slammed his fist against the console.

"You damned idiot!" he shouted, his frustration with the entire mission coming to a head. "What the hell do you think you are doing?! You were supposed to be the best of us!" he stopped to compose himself as the door opened and Garrus entered the room.

"Something wrong, sir?"

"Yes. We need to wrap this up quickly and get word to Council to revoke Spectre Arterius' Spectre clearance," Nihlus said, turning to leave. "Are the demo charges are in place?"

"Yes sir. Just give the word and the whole place goes sky high."

"Good. Then let's get to it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"_Look alive, they're moving in a big one!" _Hawk shouted as Etel saw a larger geth walker moving in.

"Heaven help us," she said as her eyes widened. "Williams?"

"I'm on it!" the Alliance commander said as she swiveled the gun around and fired. The other two Conquerors also fired at the large geth walker, hitting it but the kinetic barriers protecting it absorbed the impact. It leaned back on its legs, the cannon around what Etel considered close to a mouth fired, the pulse streaming towards them. Etel moved the tank to the side and the pulse exploded next to them, grazing them and dropping their shields but not depleting them.

"_How bad did that hit?"_ Dragon Fire's commander asked.

"Worse than it should have!" Etel answered as she moved the tank around, trying to simultaneously avoid running over the PDF soldiers fighting the enemy infantry moving forward while staying out of the larger geth's line of fire..

"_Okay then,"_ the other tanker said confidently as they traded another salvo, _"time to entrench! Let's see how their steel matches ours!"_

The geth and Collectors were slowly gaining ground, Hawk's men were now joined by more of their brothers and sisters in arms, but they were outnumbered and casualties were growing with both medics and corpsmen at full stretch. Deveraux lifted an object from the debris of a blown out building with biotics and flung it into the field, crushing the Destroyer rushing Jenkins and knocking it onto its back.

"Was that a kitchen sink?!" Williams asked in surprise as it flew over the tank. Etel simply shrugged in response.

"_It was!"_ Alenko added before he left his comlink on. _"Out of medi-gel? Go get some, there's dozens of wounded here and we don't have time to do it old school!"_

The large geth walker fired again, aiming at Dragon Fire. The Conqueror fired again as the pulse shot towards them as they had dug in, their kinetic barriers flashing and then shattering as the pulse blast went through them._ "Holy shit we just lost our shields!" _they shouted, _"I don't think we want another hit like that!"_

"Get mobile!" Etel shouted, "We can't stick around with that kind of firepower, we don't have the barriers for it!"

"_Roger that mi'lady!"_ The tank's hover engines reignited and it slowly began to become mobile again when several rockets from the geth's drones as well as a volley from a cannon husk, shattering the forward two engines and causing the tank to drop. "_Shit! Engines are down! Keep firing, we're holding them back all the way to the end!"_

"You know," Williams said as she fired the main gun again and managed to hit the geth walker's head, causing it to stagger briefly, "We're needed in here, but if we're going to die here I'd rather die on my feet shooting than in this thing."

"I know what you mean," Etel said as she wanted to leap out and use her biotics in the field. The only reassurance she had was that she was at least at the wheel, keeping them mobile and away from the enemy fire. That at least gave her something to do to try and survive. Another of the cannon husks moved forward and fired, hitting the tank and weakening its shields further as she moved behind a small hill in the park, evading the fire and getting a chance to recharge the shields as the tank drove around to get a different angle, supporting a different squad of infantry now as Williams suppressed several Collectors moving on the squad with the machine gun.

"_Jenkins, stay down, you're going to get hurt!"_ Alenko warned.

"_I'm staying down!"_ the other marine answered before his assault rifle took up the audio. _"But I'm also taking out these drones, the rockets are pissing me off!"_

"Don't get amped up, Jenkins," Williams chided as she fired the main gun at the large geth walker again, hitting it in tandem with the other Conqueror still in operation. "Keep your focus!"

"_Yes ma'am!"_ Jenkins answered as he fired again, _"Rocket drone down! Suck on that you robotic-"_ he was cut off as something slammed into him. _"Damn it, shields out!"_

"_Focus your fire!"_ Hawk shouted,_ "Target that cannon husk and take it down now!"_

Etel moved the tank to the side again as the large geth walker fired at them as their shields were mostly recharged, managing to hit the side of the tank. Alarms blared incessantly at them as Etel was thrown against the restraints while Williams hit her head on the top of the tank, though her helmet protected it. "You okay?" Etel asked.

Williams fired the main gun in response, dropping the walker's shields. "I'm fine!" she answered. "Using up ammo quickly here, this thing is tough!"

"How much do we have left?" Etel asked; if they ran out of ammunition for the main gun…

"Over half, but at this rate I'm not sure how much longer it'll last!"

"Just make each shot count!" Etel grit her teeth as several missiles shot out from city hall and smashed into the large geth walker, staggering it before it rose and fired again. There was a scream cut off before it hit its target.

"_Holy shit! Dragon Fire just got blown to pieces!"_

"_Pierre, Alenko, check for survivors!" _Hawk ordered._ "Jenkins, Deveraux, Hasna, Gerald, cover them!"_

"Keep firing!" Williams shouted as Etel drove the tank around the hill and Williams used the machine gun to take out a geth rocket drone that was damaging their shields. "That walker lost its shields and it has a weak spot in the cannon, pour it on! We can take it out!"

"_This is Alenko, we got one survivor in the tank! I'm going to pull him back, he's in bad shape!"_

"_Hey, where'd the artillery go?"_ Jenkins asked as Etel saw him and another Imperial soldier tag team a Destroyer in melee, the Imperial using his omni-blade to slash its weapon and stagger it before Jenkins finished it off with a shotgun burst.

"_Gerald! Where's the enemy arty?"_ Hawk demanded as Etel saw him dropping into cover from taking down a Collector moving forward. A soldier next to him caught a few rounds from another Collector directly through his faceplate and collapsed.

"_Hang on!" _the makeshift communications officer said as they kept fighting. The loss of artillery was not only noticed by Jenkins and there was radio chatter about the lack of artillery strikes before another voice cut in.

"_Imperial Forces, this is Spectre Kryik: Geth artillery neutralized. I repeat: Geth artillery neutralized!"_

"_YEEEEAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOO!"_ Jenkins screamed, followed by other PDF soldiers cheering over the destroyed artillery. Etel could almost taste the soaring morale as they threw themselves into the fight.

"_This is Duchess al-Jilani to Spectre Kryik: thank you for the assistance. All forces still fighting, take the initiative back and drive the geth out of our city!"_

Etel grinned widely as she keyed the tank's radio to answer. "With pleasure, Duchess."

"Tide's turning," Williams said with a faint grin, "the geth are slowing down their attacks! They know they lost the big push."

Etel glanced at the walker and grinned. "All PDF soldiers in the city center, this is Sir Shepard, Knights Hospitaller. That walker is the main thing holding this wave together. Anyone with a missile launcher, waste that thing!"

Williams fired the main gun at the heavy geth walker again as it was turning towards them and fired. The blue pulse blast hit the tank and broke past their shields.

"How bad?!" Williams asked as she hit her head from the force of the impact.

"Armor took it but I wouldn't stick around for another direct hit!" Etel answered as she moved the tank back around the hill as several more missiles shot at the large geth and hit it head on. The walker swayed before taking another hit from the main gun and it finally collapsed forward.

"Walker down! I repeat, geth walker is down!" Williams called out as she was smiling widely at the burning enemy vehicle.

"_Hell yeah! Take that you metal bastards!"_ Jenkins shouted.

"_The hellhounds are running! Give 'em nothing but bullets to the back!"_ Hawk ordered.

"_Stay alert,"_ Deveraux cautioned, sounding tired, _"they've set up firing lines to cover the retreat."_

Etel glanced down as her omni-tool chirped. Activating it as the tank's shields recharged and Williams continued to fire away at the main gun, she saw it was Nihlus.

"_Shepard, Williams, you alive?"_ the turian asked, clearly driving the Mako.

"Thanks to you," she answered as Williams used the machine gun to break a series of hex barriers that several geth had deployed to cover their retreat down a wide street. "The geth are falling back from the center of the city. I'd suggest you take a long way around."

"Already doing that, but thank you for the heads up. Are communications back up?"

"No updates on that," Etel answered as she edged the tank out of the way so the infantry could move forward. "I'll patch you in as soon as they're up."

"_Good, because we need to tell the Council to revoke Spectre Arterius' rank."_

Etel widened her eyes as she realized the implication. "Understood. Shepard out."

"Got 'im?" Williams asked between shots.

"They did," Etel answered with a grin. "Now he has nowhere to hide."

"Good. Now let's finish this off!"

Driving the geth out of the city center turned out to be a surprisingly easy task, given how desperate the situation had become. While the PDF troops suffered a few losses from geth recon and rocket drones ambushing from windows or snipers, the geth were in full retreat, but the PDF did not perform a full pursuit. The geth still had several strong points in the city and they needed to regroup, and the City Hall had become the new rally point for the surviving forces of New Syracusae's planetary defense forces. Handing the Conqueror Tank to the survivors of Big Bertha's crew at Hawk's suggestion, Etel and Williams dropped out from the side of the tank.

"You know," Williams said as she put her hands on her back and pushed, stretching as much as her hardsuit would allow, "I'm starting to see why most Alliance tankers tend to be the runts of the litter. It's a cramped job."

"Same in the Empire," Etel answered as she shook her right leg to try and get rid of the cramp there. "But at least we helped blunt the assault."

Williams nodded as they walked towards where Jenkins and Alenko were, the latter tending to the former who had a dozen new scorch marks on his armor and small chunks of it was missing. Williams sighed as they walked into the little triage station that Alenko and another medic had set up. "How many times did you get shot this time?" the Alliance commander asked.

"Discounting the stuff my shields stopped? OW!" he grunted as Alenko injected something into his neck. "Lost count."

"He's still fighting, though," Etel commented, impressed at Jenkins' resilience. "Though, you're going to want to see a doctor about that."

"Yeah, Chakwas can chew me out later," he muttered as he reached for his Lancer. "So, the geth are falling back?"

"They are," Etel answered. "Nihlus, Garrus, and Wrex should be joining us soon; they're taking the long way around to avoid trouble."

"Good," Jenkins said with a nod. "You know, I like these guys," he gestured towards Hawk and his squad. "They care about each other, cover each other. Hell, they covered me like we had always fought together."

"Why are you so surprised?" Alenko said with a smirk. "They're soldiers, just like you. Politics doesn't matter when the barbarians are at the gate."

"Still," Jenkins said with a shrug, "I do hope we can find this Tali real soon. She wasn't one of those husks we ran into on the way here, was she? I only saw the cannon ones in the city center."

"Unless she got fused into one of those, probably not. Hopefully not," Williams added as Etel failed to keep the worry from her face as the subject was broached again.

"In the meantime we should…" Etel's omni-tool chirped again and she looked down at it before answering the call. "Shepard here."

"_Sir Shepard,"_ it was al-Jilani, _"I want you to report to the command center. Bring the Alliance soldiers with you as well, and if you can ask the Spectre to come over. Sergeant Hawk's squad will stay with you and guide you over."_

"Yes, Duchess, we'll be there shortly," Shepard answered as she lowered her head briefly and looked up to them as al-Jilani's image faded. "Jenkins, you able to walk?"

The Alliance marine pushed himself up. "Yeah, I can walk. We going to call Nihlus?"

"I'll handle it," Williams said as she stepped to the side and Sergeant Hawk walked over.

"Whenever you're ready, we'll guide you to the Duchess' command center," he said as he lowered his head respectfully. "Thank you again for the assistance."

"All in a day's work, Sergeant. Your men did well," Etel answered. "How many did you lose?"

"Mostly wounds in my squad, mi'lady, though a few might be career ending," he sighed and shook his head. "Pierre's working on that now, but I won't know until the medics have more time."

Williams walked back and nodded. "He knows; he'll meet us there. Sergeant, can you warn the PDF that an Alliance M-35 Mako will be approaching the city by the southern outskirts and will need a guide?"

"Can do," he said with a nod. "Anything else?"

Etel glanced over them, pausing as she realized one thing that he could help with. "Sergeant, could you have someone find Tali'Zorah nar Rayya? Or at least tell her that I'm here and need to talk to her?"

"Easily; I'll have Gerald pass it up the chain."

"Thank you. Lead on, Sergeant."

The sergeant nodded and guided them to an armored personnel carrier, a V-90 Lionheart specifically, and once they were all on board, Hawk signaled the driver to move out and they were moving down the eerily quiet streets as the fighting entered a lull.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**End Chapter**

Authors Notes: _So, this chapter came later than most of our updates. However, we have a reason for this: It kinda grew beyond our original plan, plus we had to make up _everything_. Despite this, we decided to cut it down to a more manageable size, so hopefully the next chapter will be available little bit quicker than this one. However, this did mean that Tali's first in person appearance will not be until the next chapter._

_As you may have guessed, 'cannon husks' are indeed Scions. However, unlike husks which had some sensible nomenclature, calling it a Scion is not something that we felt any of the squad would do as the term comes from gardening. However, the term used for them will appear later on, once the Citadel's member states get more knowledge of these husks._

_As always, thank you to those who have provided feedback to the story and we hope you enjoyed this chapter._

_As always, Codex entries below. First is a more detailed overview of the Conqueror, similar to the Mako codex entry from the game, and the second is a look at the tactical system the Empire was using, which is intended to be an expansion on the existing technology bases used in the Combat Information Center (CiC, which on the _Normandy_ is where the galaxy map is) of various ships in canon._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Codex: Star Empire Military - Ground Forces - Vehicles - V-43 Conqueror**

Commissioned originally by the Teutonic Order seeking an advanced battle tank for deployment in difficult terrain, the V-43 Conqueror is a heavy main battle tank prototyped and manufactured by the Empire's go-to source for heavy armored ground vehicles: the Nod-based manufacturing cologmorate Bello Ardere. Armed with the standard heavy 200 millimeter mass accelerator cannon used by most Citadel Alliance main battle vehicles as well as a machine gun for infantry suppression, the V-43 hovered into the field in 2659 Council Era (2159 Common Era) with a tank platoon of twenty first generation models used by the Teutonic Order. With the ability to engage on far more planets than the old V-36 Lupus Tank due to the hover drivetrain, Bello Ardere found itself commissioned with a contract from Emperor Titus to upgrade the Star Empire's ground army with these new tanks, replacing one iconic design with another.

While the slowest of the Citadel Alliance's main tanks due to the additional strain of the heavy armor on the hover engine design and the tank's standard element zero core, it has a different form of mobility to make up for it. Due to the hover system, it can cross rough terrain with minimal loss of speed, extremely useful in urban combat or broken battlefields where the terrain quickly becomes unsuitable for some drivetrains due to increasingly adversarial circumstances. Note, however, that even with the element zero core driving it it is unable to float more than two meters from the ground on most planets due to sheer mass. As a result, it also is unable to be air-dropped from over an altitude of 10 meters without damaging the tank on landing, compared to the more common 30 meters capable of most other mainline tanks relying on non-hover drivetrain, including the System Alliance's M-30 Spartan or the Turian Hierarchy's T-334 Phalanx.

The Conqueror is otherwise considered a standard battle tank, sporting the standard omni-gel based repair system and microassembler to manufacture reserve ammunition for long drawn fights and temporarily repair the vehicle until proper maintenance can be performed. It is also fully environmentally sealed with reserve supplies of oxygen on hand. However, it also has an improved power redirect system after several crews immobilized their tanks by disabling the drivetrain and rerouted the power to their kinetic barriers, significantly strengthening them. This tactic is still debated amongst the upper echelons of military strategists, but is commonly taught to crews as it has its applications in battle.

**Codex: Real-Time Command & Communications**

Standard command hardware used by militaries everywhere, Real-Time Command & Communications systems offer commanders a wide range of options in commanding their forces and adapting to the fluidity of battlefield situations. Often using either satellite scans of the battlefield, existing maps, or field specialists/drones with communications and recording equipment, RTC&C allows commanders to quickly observe the battlefield and issue orders.

The system allows commanders to issue orders through navigation points, alongside short pre-made messages. RTC&C is usually seen in larger military operations that have a dedicated command center due to the equipment needed to function, though Dreadnaughts and most flagships have their Combat Information Centers built with RTC&C in mind. The hardware is typically an array of holographic projectors with VIs constantly updating the holographic map of the battlefield for the commander to use as information comes in. Conversely, the system allows soldiers to receive relatively precise orders without compromising the ability to relay them verbally through standard communications channels.

However, despite the vast potential in combat usage the system has been criticized for requiring special communications equipment to be deployed amongst soldiers on the ground or vehicles dedicated to scanner and communications to take full advantage of the system. The Systems Alliance is well known to be working on simplified, but more compact version that could be outfitted into the standard hardsuits, as well as a mobile command version to be issued to commanders working far away from command centers. The Salarian Union is rumored to have developed such a system already, but the Union denies such claims.


End file.
